Sonic Riders: Many years later
by nastories
Summary: The Babylon Rogues had left on a dimensional journey, leaving friends and family behind. However, when Wave finds herself back to her original world, she realizes that she was gone for much longer than she thought. Now, stuck with a more mature but hardened Tails, she must re-adapt to her new life. Decided for M rated just in case. Tails X Wave
1. Prologue 1

"Good evening everyone. For those just turning your tv, just arrived at the track, went to the food court or just got distracted: Welcome to the Third EX World Grand Prix. Your host and eyes here on the Sky Fortress Zone, Omochao! I am a little sad to announce that we are reaching the conclusion of our races. However, we are finishing this with a Bang! Why, you may ask? Well, to end this competition we have a few of the best extreme gear riders ever"

"We have the Babylon Rogues, formed by Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross, known for being the pioneers of extreme gear racing; Team Heroes, composed by Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox and Knuckles the Echidna, the positive boost the extreme gears needed to become this popular; these two teams are easily the most famous and popular of the finalist but other teams such as Team Rose have gained a good following, partly thanks to their newest member Gemerl, though both Cream the Rabbit and Amy Rose have made their proper contributions to the team, after they lack luster introduction to the world of racing in the last Grand Prix; Team Dark has always been unable to keep a third member with them ...*cough* alive *cough* but so far Silver the Hedgehog have been capable of keeping up with Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, known thiefs and G.U.N. agents; Team Chaotix, the least loved team of the finalists, formed by Vector the Crocodile, Charmy the Bee and Espio the Chameleon are better known as detective but they had made it this far ... But they need a miracle if they dream to win; Team Eggman is not loved at all by anyone but his two new robots have proven to be hard to best, gaining Dr. Robotnik's his not so well earned place in the competition. Nevertheless, you know, this only makes the competition even more exciting. What will happen next? Stay tuned and find out!"

As the robot chao did his best to entertain the masses, the many racers waited at the Pit area, using they spare time to get some rest for the next race and tune up their boards to the best of their capacity. All that actually meant that each of the teams` mechanics was doing its best to keep their boards from breaking apart while the rest of the team is doing pretty much anything but rest.

Tails and Wave tried their best to work as they teammates made pranks and trash talked. It was bearable most of the time, but when it was too much, Tails was thankful to have Wave around (and her giant wrench for that matter). She was enough to calm them down for a while.

Amy pretty much spent most of her time chasing after Sonic, in this more confined space she might have actually have a chance to catch him. While all of this happened, Gemerl fixed the gears of his team with the aid of Cream, thought he would have probably being better by himself.

Oddly enough, Cream had a strange effect on the robot, causing it to overheat by her many soft touches and manerism. From what the outsiders saw, he was blushing until it was too much and, just like the machine it was, overheated and stopped to work for a few seconds. Even if it was weird, no one paid too much attention to this detail. Most just shrug it off; those who once cared grew used to it like Tails and Eggman. Wave was probably the only one who actually cared about it and still tried to discover how a little girl could have such an effect on a machine, not having much success in two years since she met them.

Other teams like the Chaotix did not seem to have the slightest idea of what they were doing as the three members were struggling to try to fix their vehicles. Eggman and Wave found hilarous when their boards seemed to be at their perfect shape, just to suddenly fall apart in many pieces. Poor Silver possibly had it the worst as his teammates threw him their extreme gears and left, ordering him to repair them before they were back.

Eggman was the only one that was actually resting, as his red and blue metal sonics were the ones making the maintenance. The heroes had actually attempted to reach him a few times but the two metals he build proved to be too troublesome to handle. Luckily, Espio had sneaked past his defenses and applied the good ol` creampuff prank on him. Since then, Eggman had not tried to fall asleep to avoid pranks.

At that moment, Tails was helping Silver fix his team boards as it was becoming a habit on the competition. The fox felt some sympathy for the white hedgehog. Sonic and Knuckles might have not being as direct and mean as Shadow and Rouge but it did not seem that different sometimes.

Silver was also very smart. In the little time they were spending together, he had learnt to distinguish the flaws on the damaged extreme gears. He was no Tails or Wave but considering he was from an apocalyptic future, it was actually very impressive. In addition, his psychic powers let him find the problems much faster than anyone else. In just a few minutes, the boards were at the best they could.

"There. All ready "Silver said, satisfied. "You know, I could help you fix your teams boards and they would be ready in a sec." He proposed but the fox rejected it politely.

"Don't worry. Besides, my board is the only one that still needs to be fixed. It shouldn't-" In that instant, the famous blue streak passed in front of them and grabbed the shooting star extreme gear. "Wait,

Sonic. I just fix it!" Tails cried

"Exactly. It needs some testing." And, just like that, he and the red echidna left the area.

"I won't let some blue hairbrush best me." Jet shouted, taking his board and following Sonic's steps.

"Wait for me boss!" Storm ran behind the Hawk, taking the S-type right from Wave's hand.

"Wait, Storm! I am not…" But Wave's scream was in vain as he had already left. "Finished"

"Fuck me" Both Tails and Wave said it, though the Swallow shouted much louder than the fox and rambled on for a little while.

At least, it meant that Tails would only have to worry about his board with little interruptions, and Wave would just relax until the next race. Things should slow down a bit for a while... Until Charmy decided to screw everyone plans.

"Hey guys, look what I found! This should stop our boards from falling apart." The bee chirped happily, holding a pod over his head. However, both Vector and Espio panicked the moment they realized what he was holding. It was a normal orb, like the ones in the race track. However, that contained the gum used by Vector, powerful enough to keep spaceship pieces together and, if not opened correctly, would blow up.

"Charmy! Stop right there!" Vector ordered the bee, a little too late since the kid tripped at seemingly nothing, letting go off the bomb.

Vector observed in absolute horror as the orb went up, just starting going down because of the power of gravity. Luckily for him, Espio made a mad dash and caught the orb before it hit the floor. The crocodile let go his held air and soon joined with the Chameleon and the Bee.

"Don't scare me like that Charmie! You need to be more careful!" Vector screamed, flailing his arms like crazy, a little too crazy since, thanks to the flailing, Espio dropped the ball.

"Just like you Vector?" Charmie quipped, a little disappointed that he did not get an answer. The two adults of team Chaotix were too astonished to move, to even react. They were there, frozen, fixated on the orb that could just blow up at any moment... A good minute passed away and nothing happened. It was then that the two started functioning again.

"Huh, maybe it was-" At that moment the sphere went off, all its sticky content exploding from it, not only totally bathing the Chaotix with the jelly like content, but also splashing many of the other racers with it.

Wave reacted soon enough to protect her board... using her own body as a shield; Gemerl was able to protect the gears and Cream from all the jelly just like Wave, though, the fact that he was a robot didn't help him since now he was shaking and spilling smoke and Amy was left unprotected; Silver reacted fast enough and, thanks to his powers, avoided getting spilled at all; Tails had it the worst, not being able to avoid any jelly on him, as well as his board. A few buzzes and sparks later and the fox understood it was damaged beyond repair, at least, with the little time left he had.

"No no no no NO!" Tails shouted, not believing what just happened. All that hard work, all those late nights, all the effort of participating through the competition could be thrown to the dump because of this stupid accident.

Meanwhile, by a chance that makes no sense at all, the boards of the team Chaotix actually stuck together thanks to the jelly and still worked perfectly.

"Now take a look at that! How about a 'thank you' from you guys?" Charmy commented, earning the stink eye from his teammates.

"I am so going to give you something! But not the thanks!" Vector shouted, soon followed by an attempt to grab the child, though he flew out of his reach, starting a little game of catching. However, both stopped dead on their tracks, when both Amy and Wave passed in front of them, making a throat cleaning sound. Before anything else could get any more complicated, Cream, of all people stepped in.

"Misters! You must help my friend Gemerl!" The youngest of the bunch begged, a glimpse behind her revealed the black robot behind her, a dancing mess of an amazing machine. It was obvious that none of the Chaotix wanted anything with him.

"Why do we have to do anything for you?! It is your bot!"

"And guess who messed him up just now!" Amy added, starting to show her anger.

"Someone better step forward and help fix the robot, before we make you do it." This time Wave talked, earning an odd look from Amy. It was very weird seeing the swallow helping someone but herself or her team.

At that moment, Charmy and Vector took a step back, only Espio remained still, realizing a minute to late of what just happened.

"Wait, I-" Espio was ready to argue but Cream used one of his deadliest weapons at her disposal: she put out her lower lip, which started to tremble; she opened her eyes as big as she could…. She was using the PUPPY EYES! Just a look at the cute rabbit was enough to cut all attempt from the chameleon to discuss. "All right, all right." Espio sighed, giving up and walking toward the robot, fear slowly crawling up to him. After all, this was one of Eggman's deadliest machines ever and was flailing around like a maniac. This was not going to be a fun time for him.

Vector and Charmy both tip toe their way out of trouble, or attempted to do as Amy put herself in front of them and Wave behind them.

"Ladies, let's be reasonable." Vector tried to talk her way out of this disaster, not working as Amy, instantly getting hit by her huge hammer.

Charmy ran away in the opposite direction, not realizing the bird girl was just there and thus getting hit by Wave and her wrench. The bee felt his head throbbing, petting the sore spot. The kid looked at the bird woman. Seeing that her wrench was much smaller than Amy's hammer, he thought he was probably better than his partners were, but when the wrench suddenly grew in size and started emitting electricity, he knew he was in a mess.

The chameleon observed with a bit of distance. Seeing how his friends were chased and being pummeled, Espio felt a little relieved just having to clean the robot with Cream. Sadly, the sudden flailing from the robot hit him, literaly sending him flying a few meters.

"Mama I wanna Haman" Espio mumbled before losing consciousness.

Cream paused the cleaning work, observing her surroundings for a bit, absorbing all the chaos that was happening just around her. "This is going to be a long day"

"Excuse me; are you positive about what are you saying?" Rouge talked to her watch, asking for a confirmation from her superiors at G.U.N.

"I repeat, the Babylon Rogues ship is emitting a strange energy signal. We didn`t notice it at all when the races began but it has growing steadily stronger with each passing race. The air vehicle is using a camouflage system, hiding itself from any look as well as most of our scanners. Rouge`s orders are to infiltrate the zeppelin, quietly, while Shadow continues through the race to draw less suspicion. Verify whatever that energy is and what its purpose is and eliminate it if it is dangerous. Is it clear, agent?" The agent re-explained in the same monotone voice

"Understood. We will get into it." Rogue responded before turning of her communicator. "Got that, brooding boy?" She teased to his partner.

Shadow barely reacted to her, merely saying, "Initiate mission" Before speeding toward the Resting areas.

"Why do I bother?" Rouge sighed, opened her wings and glided toward her objective. In mid-flight, Knuckles came flying on his extreme gear and almost ran her over. "What is your problem?!" She screamed in anger. Her hassle was not over as the other escaped riders followed him and almost ran her over too. Rouge barely avoided being ran over by the riders.

As expected, Sonic and company had raced each other in their spare time. However, something unexpected happened: Storm`s board had suddenly started emitting smoke, as well as losing control over his. Now, they both struggled just to get back to the pit area. Luckily, for Storm, the extreme gear game up just a second before reaching a safe place, landing face first but not in any real danger.

Somehow, being the first to arrive to the area, the first thing he attempted was trying to reach Wave and explain the problem. He entered running and didn`t noticed that the jelly all over the place until he stepped on it. Immediately, he and the others noticed this sticky thing all over the place and their friends. They also noticed how Charmy was literally stuck to the ceiling, thanks to whatever that was, and Vector was nail through the floor, struggling.

"Geez, did we miss the party? We only left for a little while!" Sonic joked but everyone turned to him with a face of anger and frustration. "Just saying." Without another word, Sonic directed to their area, noticing that Tails was still working like a complete maniac.

"What`s the matter buddy, I thought you would be done by now."

He continued to work without paying much mind to his best friend. However, after looking at it thoroughly, he knew he wasn`t going to be ready any time soon. "It`s no use." Tails sighed.

At that moment, Silver used his psychic powers to hold the yellow tail, thinking that his powers could easily solve the problem. "There is still use until the psychic says otherwise".

"Silver, let go of it in this instant!" The fox shouted though it was too late. Silver received a powerful electric shock, along that; the board also was electrocuted, exploding thanks to the excessive energy. Now it was completely out of order. Silver was knocked down, although he got back quickly.

"What the heck just happened?!" He screamed, more pissed off than hurt, the burnt and darkened hair seemed worse than it actually was. Tails was looking at what was left of the board, tears seemingly about to come. Silver calmed down himself before moving closer to the fox,

While all that happened, Storm made his best effort to convince Wave to repair his board before the next race. "Wave, look at the board. It just exploded!" He said while raising his arms to the air. "Can you fix it? Please?" The big bird put his best cute face, thought to be honest was more horrific than his normal expression

Wave stood there, checking the S-Type board, completely fixated at it. Then she started striking his partner with her wrench. "What the hell did you do to my baby?! Each of my gears is a masterpiece but it seems you grabbed it and smashed it against a wall over and over and over! And you have the nerve to demand me having the board ready before the race AFTER you took it without it being remotely finished and brought it in a far worse state. AND if you actually believe I will even try. YOU! ARE! DEAD! WRONG!" Wave roared, not taking a single breath of air during that whole speech. And then, she walked away, wanting to take a shower to remove as much gum as possible.

In her way, she noticed that Tails is at the brink of tears and pissed off at the white hedgehog. She actually thought that maybe the fox would lash out at him, seeing that his board was in a horrible state. However, the angry boy seemed to calm down, more depressed than anything else. "Sorry Silver, it is my fault that. During all of these competitions someone messes with my teams boards and we end up losing the first place because of that, so I put safety measures on our extreme gears, meant to give anyone a powerful shock if they were authorized, even if that person was a technology esper." Tails explained.

Wave had to admit that she was feeling a tiny pinch of regret from what she heard. She had messed up Sonic's board twice to ensure their teams victory, taking the first place in the original competition, thought then Sonic kicked his tail in a fair race. On the other competition, Jet once again won thanks to her interference and while they competed again and Jet still took the victory, there was still some shady stuff behind them, even if Sonic himself had accepted defeat cleanly. Still, she rarely cared about people opinion, she cared about getting results and if cheating became a need again, she would do it once more.

Silver then left, just telling him sorry for a last time before moving toward Shadow. Now that Tails was alone, Wave used the opportunity and threw at him a can of soda she had reserved.

"What is this?" Tails asked

"It is a drink you buffoon. Seriously is there anything up there?" Wave insulting while pointing out at her head. The boy just huffed his frustration. However, Wave´s posture changed a bit after her comment. "Consider it congratulation, for actually looking like you are starting to show some foresight and being more careful with your stuff." Wave commented in a much less mean fashion, but she reversed to her normal self before Tails could even give her an answer. "Don't get too excited yet. You are still ten years too young to be anywhere as competent as me." And with that she just left to the showers.

Watching Wave being mean one minute only to be nice the next always left the fox confused. It had happened with more frequency than more time they spent but he still had not gotten used to it. Anyway, feeling very thirsty all of the sudden, he decided to open the can. And started screaming as the contents on the can sprayed him all over. "Waaaaaaah" He shouted in surprise, feeling all the sticky substance all over his hair. In the distance, Wave laughed at him, to what Tails answered by glaring daggers at her,

"Still too naïve." She said before finally entering the showers. He still drank it, and it was really good.

Little time later, Omochao appeared toward the guys and noticed how messy everyone and everywhere looked. "Um, there are only five minutes left. We better start moving toward the track." He explained.

"Finally! Had I spent one more minute with this vermins, I would have gone crazy." The mad doctor complained and moved, followed by his two metal Sonics.

"Let´s get going Cream." Amy told her, but the little girl only tightened her grip on the robot.

"I can´t leave him behind, not like this." Cream said between *sniffs*, ready to burst into tears. She felt like she shouldn't leave the bot until he was safe and sound.

"Cream *bzztt* you *bztt* enter the *bzzt* win it. For us, *bzzzt* for the *bzttt* team." Gemerl told her, the best he could due to its malfunctions. He had grabbed Espio again, holding him in a tight.

"But-" The little girl began but the bot interrupted her again.

"No *bzzt* buts!" He said. "Give it *bzzt* all!"

The scene would have looked as if Gemerl was some kind of very sick person at the edge of death and Cream was seemingly not ready to tell him goodbye, or it could have looked like that, if he wasn't an incredibly dangerous bot that could kill anyone around.

"I will take care of him." Tails offered to the girl.

"Are you sure about that little bro?" Sonic asked. He knew how much Tails wanted another chance at a race against the Babylon as well against everyone else.

Tails still looked upset about what happened before, but he still smiled the best he could to reassure everyone. "There is nothing to be done about my board. It is best if I work on something else. But you must promise me you will give it all you got out there." Tails said.

Sonic smiled back. "That's the spirit little bro. I will win." And with that, he left with Knuckles

Watching Tails trying to stay strong for his team, Cream felt that she needed to be strong to. Gemerl had helped them get this far to victory, so now, she needed to arm herself with courage, and go. "Please rest, we will give all out there." Her voice remained relatively steady but tears were flowing across her face. She and Amy left, thought tears didn´t stop flowing.

The other two members of the Chaotix team moved close to Espio, looking at him with pleading eyes and their hands together. The Chameleon immediately knew what they wanted. "Ok guys, go win the race." Espio said. His partners shouted hurray and took off.

"Hey, where is Rouge?" Silver asked Shadow, as it looked like they were going without her.

"Don't know. Don't care."

"But she is your partner."

"If you want to get all concerned about your team wellbeing and getting all nice and together, go join Sonic and the others. We might be partners but we also don't need all that." And with that the rest of the journey went silent for them.

Wave and Jet told their goodbyes to his stuck partner, who went to the corner and put himself in a fetal position or something. And so, every team member that was still capable of racing headed to the competition.


	2. Prologue 2

Just a few hours before the race, the competidors of each teams walked a long tunnel that connected directly to the main course and no one was at the mood of speeding up till getting there so, they were taking there time.

"Race time! Here we go! Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!" The detective bee repeated over and over, hyped for the incoming race, at least, until he noticed that half of the remaining eyes were on him, with looks to kill. A little intimidated, he slowly flew toward the Crocodile. "Vector, is something on my face? Why everyone looks so scary?"

"Geez, Charm. I didn't notice. Like at all. I can't even begin to fathom why they could be so angry about." He said sarcastically, thought the child didn't seem to realize.

"And you call yourself a detective?! You are so dense a cup of jelly is better than you as a detective."

"They are angry because the bomb sticky bomb from before. The one you brought!"

"B-But it was an accident!" The bee shouted, bursting into tears. "I am just a kid. I don't want to be hated by everyone! Waaaaah!"

Vector felt a bit sad for the kid and his reaction was to try to comfort him. "There, there, Charmy. Easy there. Don't cry. They will forgive you in time. I will help you."

"Ok." He said, stopped crying instantly. "Sorry about calling you dense and the whole jelly thing." He said. Vector was only happy to stop his whines.

"Team Chaotix is the best! Give us cash and we will do anything!" Vector and Charmy sang cheerfully as they walked along the rest teams to the circuit.

"How in the world those two made it this far?" Jet the Hawk questioned, eyes half closed at those two.

"They may not look like it, but they can be pretty tough." Jet looked to his left, meeting a certain blue hedgehog with a cocky smile. However, what the bird noticed the most was the fact that Sonic was ahead of him, barely noticeable, but enough for the Hawk to speed up a bit to pass him. "Feeling scared?" Sonic challenged, taking confident steps to pass his rival again.

"I am the best extreme gear rider! There is no way you can beat me" The green bird stated, continuing the kind of slow race between the two of them.

"Well, if you are worried with a faker, I shouldn't even bother with you." Coming from the left, Shadow joined the trash talking, trying not to show much emotion as usual.

"Who are you calling faker, faker?" Sonic retorted thought it fell on deaf ears.

"Get yourself a walking stick old man and go play chess. This is too much for you." Jet mocked.

"And while these three are distracted by one another, I can easily pass them and take victory for myself. I can't wait to see their expressions once I beat them." With his eyes closed, Knuckles smiled, holding his head high and not noticing the odd looks he was getting.

"You know Knuckles? I don't think it will work now that they know your plan." Silver also joined the group, causing the red one to open his eyes and see that he was the object of a few intense stares.

"What about you Silver? This was your plan too"

"Noup. I have my own foolproof plan to win" Silver smiled confidently

"If you plan on stopping us with your powers before the race even starts, not only you will get disqualified." At that moment, the black hedgehog made a sudden move, putting his glowing hand at point blank range from Silver´s head. The white hedgehog froze in fear, only able to gulp. "I. Will. Murder. You!" He spoke through gritted teeth, each word exposing more anger. Sonic and the other gave them space, not wanting to get in the cross fire. Luckily for them, a certain pink hedgehog threw herself at the characters.

"Yes, Sonic! I'm going to marry you! I am perfectly ready!" She exclaimed, rubbing her head at who she believed was Sonic. The girl did notice that his quills felt odd but it wasn't until it talked to her that she knew how bad she messed.

"Get off me you pink hairbrush!" Jet shouted. Amy just froze, extremely ashamed of her mistake. Knuckles decided that he didn't want to be anywhere near the pink girl. She had only being problem for him lately.

"Wrong anthro." Sonic said, with an apologetic expression.

"Again" Shadow said, with an expression between tired and annoyed.

"And this time he is not even a Hedgehog" Silver said surprised.

Amy was completely red, not believing herself and not caring for Jet´s complains. She threw the green bird without looking; barely missing Sonic who ducked at time. The body hit Knuckles and both were put at the floor.

"What's that chick problem?!" Jet asked.

"Everything is wrong with that girl."

"That usually doesn't happen." Amy commented.

"Liar." The three hedgehogs answered in unison. Still, this only stopped Amy for a second since she was once again chasing the blue blur. It went by for a few seconds, watching their usual bicker until Amy almost crashed against Silver. Luckily, the later was fast enough to stop her on with his psychic powers.

"Hey, hey, hey. What's the matter?" The white hedgehog asked, actually caring to solve the problem instead of just escaping or just observing.

"Sonic is going to marry me!" The girl put her hands together, looking at the sky, her pupils seemingly to shape like hearts and speaking dreamingly.

"Of course." Silver rolled his eyes.

"I said, He is going to marry me!" She said a lot more demanding. Silver may still had a hold on her, but he still felt intimidated.

"Of course, of course" He said, nervously. "But, you know, is there anything special in this occasion?"

"People heard Sonic talking about how he dreamed to propose me!" She said returning to her dreamingly state.

"From who did you heard this?"

"Wave"

"Does she have any reason to trick you?" He asked while searching for the bird with his eyes.

"No. She has a thing for Tails and other mechanics but not with Sonic or me."

"Does she have any beefs with Cream?"

Amy snickered, not believing what he was suggesting. "Why would anyone have beefs with Cream?"

"Well, they are talking right now." Silver pointed at the pair.

"What?!" Surprised, Amy tried to look at them, forgetting about the psychic lock Silver still had on her. "Would you mind?" While she said it in a polite manner, she was still threatening. Silver turned his power off instantly.

Far from the rest of the racers, at their backs, Cream and Wave talked. However, Wave was famous for insulting other people and making fun of them, but right now, they seemed to be having a friendly conversation. Cream looked down and the Swallow looked worried for her.

"Cream, you need to concentrate on the race." Wave spoke in a very soft manner, totally not like her.

"But, Gemerl is one of my best friends. I am very worried." Cream said, at the edge of tears.

*He is a goddamn robot. It is just a matter to fix him.* The older girl unconsciously closed her clutches, her patience running thin. She took a second to calm herself before continuing. "Tails is taking care of i…" She bit her tongue, knowing that treating the bot as an ´it´ would bother her. "Him. He is probably at 100% right now." She tried to sound convincing. "Plus, I bet he would feel a lot better if you win the race." She teased, hoping that it would raise her spirits.

"Do you really think I have a chance?!" Cream asked excitedly.

"I don't really think so." Wave instantly responded with her trademark sassiness. Cream was taking a little aback from her words and lowered her head, a bit hurt. But what the bird said later was exactly what she needed. "But I bet you would make it interesting."

Cream raised her head, finding that Wave was giving a warm smile. The kid was still cautious, but she smiled back… and Amy got in the way between them.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Amy shouted. Wave actually showed a bit of surprise and fear, thought only for a second, before regaining her composure. "Don't believe anything this rogue says."

"But- but she hasn't done anything bad to me. She is nice with me"

"Which probably means she is up to something funny" Amy said. "Listen, one thing is messing with me, Sonic or Knuckles. I don't approve you bullying Tails either, but he has told me you are nothing that he cannot handle."

"He lied about that." Wave interrupted. Amy had to refrain herself from smacking the bird right there.

"But messing with Cream is out of question. You try anything funny and you will see what I am made of." Amy tried to scare her, speaking slowly and menacing with her last few words.

Wave just burst into laughter, showing no sign of fear. "If you think you scare me at all, you are so delusional. But thanks for the good laugh." She retorted, still laughing and leaving the two girls alone. When she was a little farther, she let go of a held air that she **perfectly** knew she had.

A lot ahead, Eggman observed the purple bird with interest. "What´s this? The mean bird actually has a soft spot for the sweet bunny. Are my eyes deceiving me?" Eggman said with sarcasm, just as Wave passed by. The bird tried to show no interest in the matter but failed. "I bet you are dead worry: her being so young and participating in such a dangerous competition. Specially this one"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Wave replied angrily. Eggman remained silent.

Shadow was also close to this two guys and that's when he realized that there was only one metal around. He immediately contacted Rouge. "Rouge, there is one Metal Sonic missing. Be on your guard."

"Finally showing some concern huh?" She said through the communicator, expecting some answer. Shadow stopped the conversation right there. Little later, the light at the end of the tunnel was visible.

* * *

The racers finally arrived at the track, the cheers from the fans flooded the athletes, their eagerness contagious, lifting their spirits. "Racers, take your places!" Omochao shouted and the racers obeyed, dispersing all over the starting point.

A second later, the countdown started, the green bar started moving. Sonic, Jet, Cream, Silver and Knuckles backtracked to get more impulse. The green light soon passed the many competitors, all starting moving at different intervals. Sonic, Wave, Shadow and Jet had the tightest times, thought the rest of the racers did a good job in earning a similar time. Not a single racer got electrocuted during the take off.

"And we have the beginning. Sonic and Jet had taken the lead and are disputing it, closely followed by Shadow and not so closely followed by Cream. However, the most intense action is actually coming from the last places. The rest of the racers had accumulated and are taking turns to punish the Chaotix. Amy crashes into Vector, Wave into Charmie, Eggman and the Metal put them together and, Oooh! Knuckles crashed against them and threw them out of the track. What power!"

"What did we do to you? You weren't even there!" Vector Shouted.

"I never miss a chance to clobber someone!" And with that, they continued with their race.

"The Chaotix will be saved and reintroduced by the Meteo Tech SC drones but they will lose all their rings and valuable time."

"That seemed overkill." Sonic commented lightly. Then, he received a good shook. Finally paying attention to road, he noticed that Jet had crashed against him and taken the first place.

"Jet has a tiny gap between him and Sonic. Now, he is producing a powerful air current that has caught Sonic. This could be troublesome, for a rookie. Like a pro, Sonic rides the air current and its gaining speed. But wait! Jet suddenly stopped, making Sonic crash against a power rider route. This antic cost Jet the first place as Shadow and Cream just passed him, but possibly taking Sonic down might make it worth it. Hold that thought! While initially shaken, Sonic is efficiently avoiding all the debris. The famous hedgehog just passed a route that isn't his type without harm!"

"Didn't think that would take out, did ya?" Sonic teased Jet.

"I would have been disappointed had that being the case." Jet cattily commented.

"The tension raises as the three riders dispute the first place. Poor Cream she has been struggling for the first place but now she still is at fourth and the other riders are catching up. They pass some pods with items. Sonic and Jet just used theirs to enable their boards to grind ride. Oh no! Shadow was just slowed down by a chained ball in a pod, costing him the third place. Look at that! Wave just got a weapon from her pod and she is effectively using it. Bang! She just hit silver with her giant wrench, now she hit Knuckles and Shadow. And the next player in line is little Cream"

Wave was gaining on Cream, however, she lowered her weapon, trying to only pass the rabbit. However, the rabbit had other plans, constantly blocking the bird´s path.

"What's this? Wave can't pass Cream! But why doesn't she simply smash her with the wrench? It must be now because that weapon won't last long."

Wave knew she was calling too much attention. It was so not like her. She was the harsh, tomboyish, mechanic of the rogues. She had quite the bad reputation and suddenly, this innocent, naive, little girl had her hesitating. Well, very few knew about the relationship they have.

Sometime after the first Grand Prix, Cream asked Wave to teach her how to ride extreme gears. From what she had gathered, the rabbit wanted to learn but her mother wouldn't let her without a teacher and her friends were a bit skeptical about teaching her for how dangerous it was. Even the second Grand Prix, which was extremely safe in comparison to the original (at least before the whole Metal Sonic crap), was not a place for little kids.

Wave wasn't going to accept but it was actually Jet who bossed her to take her in, mostly to keep an eye on new talents. Sonic and company hadn't touch an extreme gear ever but a few days later they were a match to the rogues in almost every way.

Wave expected Cream to be very complainant and annoying. Surprisingly she was very patient and dedicated to her training. She was also very good for a beginner, thought the bird would never admit it. And she would die to admit that she had grown a soft spot for the kid.

And here they were, competing in this dangerous sport Wave wished Cream wasn't so interested in. it was then that Cream turned and looked directly at the Swallow´s eyes.

"Don't hold back at me. Please." Cream pleaded.

Wave looked at Cream´s features: The little girl was very scared, of course, anyone would avoid getting hit at these insane speeds. But she also looked determined to win with her skill, not with pity. Wave heart shrunk, understanding her position. The bird lowered her head, unable to look at her eyes.

Cream was disappointed and decided to accelerate. At that moment, Wave used her wrench to his Cream right on her stomach, just in time as the wrench dematerialized a second later. Because the change in speeds and the blow, the rabbit lost all control and fell off the road.

"Talk about a sucker punch! Wave risked her position to hit Cream at her most vulnerable moment! Now the girl has lost her place and rings… Wait a minute!" Omochao exclaimed, observing Cream, slowly but surely, propel herself back to the track with her extreme gear at hand. The rabbit luckily landed on the track, however the drones meant to help starting attacking her, taking her board, resetting her ring count and taking all the air energy. "Sorry Cream, but according to the rules, if any rider has the skill to bring himself back to the track after clearly falling from the track, they still lose their rings and air energy. What looked like a possible comeback might actually bring her more problems."

As the drones left, Cream stopped for a while holding her breath. Her sore spot burned viciously, her last struggle to get back only made it worse. She was at so much pain that she felt close to fainting. To make things worse, because of the lack air energy, she had to run until she found a way to fill her energy meter, meaning she had to push herself harder. And if she didn't run at fast enough speeds soon, she would be disqualified too. She wasn't looking forward for her options.

Suddenly, Vector passed just at her side, produced an air current, one that Cream easily took advantage off. She wasn't happy because it was obvious they pitied her but she knew this was her best way to get back in the competition.

"And there goes Cream again. We see every single racer giving it all to make this competition as excitable as possible. This is Omochao here, reporting every turn and move of this exciting event.

* * *

Rouge crawled through the vents inside the zeppelin, giving her easy access to the ship. The easy part was done, as she entered the main area. The ship was in some kind of lock down mode, since the walls had a metal protection and lasers were going both vertically and horizontally with slight movement.

"What are you hiding boys?" She commented lightly as she started searching for openings. She jumped through two small gaps, one horizontal and one vertical with only a hair of space left. She passed the second batch of laser in a snake fashion, using her arms to get out of the problem. Next, she ended in a very awkward position, standing on her left leg, her other leg was also vertical and straight. She was open in an angle of 180 degrees and from that she jumped into a horizontal gap, folding herself as hard as she could to avoid the lasers. Just one more jump left. She threw herself head first into the final gap.

However, the lasers moved. This was a flying vehicle and it was susceptible to move a little because the wind produced above. Now, it was unavoidable that a laser would touch her. She hoped that the alarm would not make enough noise, considering that the race might possibly drown the sound. She found dismay as the laser burn through her skin, almost unable to suppress the scream and tears. Things got worse however, as all the lasers suddenly changed course toward her. She modified her trajectory as much as she could, avoiding any serious damage but still getting several burn marks on her body and landing with zero grace.

While on the floor, she observed how the lasers moved erratically, anything caught between them would get ripped to shreds. Then, they seemed to return to their normal movements. She sighed, feeling the pain subside to continue. She suddenly felt disheartened as the next pathway had even more lasers moving at faster speeds.

"They don't pay me enough for this."

Many lasers later.

The bat finally reached, with a big number of burn scratches all over her body, a tiny fire burned at the tip of her ears, her face pretty much saying *I won't take any more of this nonsense.* Luckily, no more lasers were on sight, just a computer terminal. "Let's see what kind of treasure they hold in here." Sadly, for Rouge, there wasn't any of her kind of treasure. Instead, she found that the zeppelin had many containers, hundreds of them, for storing energy. More specific, wind energy, the one extreme gears use and produce while competing, the amount was so much that it actually could rival a bunch of chaos emeralds.

"Why do you guys need so much energy for?" Out of the blue, Rouge felt a powerful shake. On the screen, one of the containers was losing energy, fast. "What this?" She bolted to the container area. It was big and spacious, filled with many cylinders about three times taller and broader than her. The missing metal Sonic was actually draining one of the containers.

"Eggman trying to pull an evil plan during a grand prix? What an unexpected development!" Rouge murmured sarcastically although keeping her calm. She moved closer, attempting to caught the bot off guard, a small explosive in her hand. She then propelled herself and threw the explosive. The bot saw it coming and using his laser vision, detonated the bomb when it was close to the bat. The blast left her out cold. The metal keep draining the energy and proceeded to execute its plan.

* * *

 _Meanwhile_

"Our racers keep competing and trying to get the first place and… Ohhhh! Eggman got hit by Knuckles and out of this track. He is loosing…" Suddenly, the sound of thunder roared, which was weird, since it was coming from below. Suddenly, the Babylon ship materialized, the cloaking device malfunctioning and from the zeppelin, a lighting bolt came out and hit the spectator stands. More lightnings were coming from the ship, it was catching fire itself thanks to the intense energy flowing through it. Powerful winds started whirling around the vehicle, strong enough to lift debris and the innocent bystanders. People were starting to get lifted by the incredible winds and moved close to the zeppelin. Some force was surrounding the ship, as rocks and debris were broken apart when they reached its perimeter.

"Free style mode!" Sonic shouted. Extreme gears had two modes: free style and race mode. The later limited the full capacity of the gears, forcing to earn rings in order to unlock its full potential with the gear change, while free style didn't had such limitation. But changing modes meant getting disqualified from the competition.

Using the board as footing, Sonic impulse himself to the bystanders to save them, falling back to his extreme gear. He repeated this process three more times before looking to return to safer ground. Out of the blue, a giant rock appeared and was about to crush Sonic and people he rescued, at least until Jet appeared and used his fans to destroy the debris.

"How does it feel to be save by your own rival, eh?" Jet trashtalked.

"Thanks Jettison." Sonic answered with no malice, thought Jet almost fell from his board for using that name.

"Don't call me that!" He shouted. It was then that the people just started throwing him rocks and stuff. Jet barely had time to dodge them. "What's your problem?"

"You started this." Someone shouted. "Your ship is the origin of this disaster. It is obvious you began the problem."

"I don't care whatever you say old man." He said, without paying him attention

"It is your ship. Therefore, it is your problem. Fix it."

"Or else what?"

"You heard him. He is the cause of the problem." One of the angry people suggested.

"I didn´t say that you morons!" Jet replied, getting a little tired of what they were talking about.

"He isn't trying to stop it because he knows they are at fault."

"Maybe he is too scared."

That last hurted Jet the most out of everything they said, enough to just throw himself into the storm. As expected, Jet was repelled by the extreme winds, and crashed back at the stands. When he tried to move back and do something else, he discovered that his board was not working anymore

"This might be a problem." Sonic commented. He had moved at his side after the crash.

"You think?!" Jet shouted at him.

* * *

At the same time.

Tails continued working on Gemerl, thanks to Storm´s bulk, he stopped the bot from moving at all. The speakers continued to blast at them, explaining every turn of the race. Miles couldn't help but notice how sad the grey bird looked.

"What's the matter Storm?"

"I wanna race against you guys."

Tails smiled softly. He liked Storm. The rogues might be mean but the Albatross was a little innocent. He was as old as Wave, but he was like the kid of his group, being the most innocent and the one listening to their boss orders. Tails could relate to all of this. "Don't worry Storm. We can always organize a mock competition or something tomorrow." Tails used his best reassuring face.

However, Storm snapped at him, in a manner usually reserved for Knuckles. "We won´t bit tomorrow!" Immediately, the Albatross put his hands over his mouth, signaling he should not have said anything. "I mean be" He said and returned to his original position.

"Wait. What do you mean by that?" Tails demanded. However, the conversation was put to a halt, as a powerful quake shook everyone.

"Emergency! Emergency!" Spectators please abandon the area-" The mechanical chao tried to calm the masses but the powerful lightning bolts coming from the zeppelin were making it difficult. The air vehicle was fully visible and was now the origin of the disaster.

The racers had stopped competing, all concentrating in saving as much people as possible, but the struggle seemed like they couldn't keep the pace for long. Gun agents brought evacuation ships to the area, hoping to save as much people as possible. The problem still was as the idea of Sky Fortress Zone falling from the sky would mean devastation for the environment if it were to fall, as well as any people that might be down there. They could see how the different competitors tried to get inside the ship but they constantly got repelled.

"This is horrible. Gemerl, how is it that the zeppelin is repelling everyone?" Tails asked.

"It is some kind of tornado like force field, combined with displacement technology. Really impressive." The bot analyzed, getting into a conclusion in mare seconds.

"Displacement technology? Are you saying not even Shadow and his Chaos Control could break through?!" Tails said with some panic. As if on cue, a camera focused on the black hedgehog who was holding the invaluable gem and tried to force his entrance, only to also be spew by the powerful winds.

"Does that answer your question?" Gemerl asked.

"Are you guys going to stay there an do nutting?!" Storm shouted, exasperated that they were only standing there and talking. "My people are being blamed for this. Hey little robot!" He challenged Gemerl

"I advise you to never call me ´little robot´ again."

"Whatever. Can you get us in?"

"Yeah, I should be able to get us in."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Storm said before storming away along side Gemerl.

"Wait guys, don't you think we should…" Espio started, but the two hasty persons had already left at this point. ""… Look for someone else?"

"Let's get going." Tails said, following the two and followed by the Chameleon.

* * *

 _Back at the race track_

Sonic just observed how Shadow, just after attempting to use the Chaos control, got thrown away like anyone else so far. "Ok, time for plan b." He said before speeding away. It took him a few seconds to return, holding both Knuckles and Silver in his arms, both looking quite disturbed.

"Hey!" Both shouted at him, but the Blue blur paid them no attention.

"Silver, Knuckles: Red and blue physic spin!" He ordered, both agreeing with their heads.

Sonic and Knuckles grab hands and started spinning, forming a giant wheel attack. Silver then used his ESP, grabbed and threw them and continuously pushed him against the violent winds.

It was absolutely painful: feeling the electricity flow in their bodies, the intensity of the burn marks enough to make them want to cry; the strain that comes from spinning at speed that the two alone couldn't achieve was horrendous; the graze coming from the resistant wind was much worse than the one coming from clashing against many of Eggman´s machines.

"I can´t… hold on… much longer." Knuckles whined, his voice filled with strain.

"Don't give up… just yet… we are almost…" Sonic replied in a similar manner, suddenly a lightning bolt stroke both our heroes. Both screamed out of sheer agony, getting thrown and crashing against the walls.

"Sonic! Knuckles!" Silver panicked, watching how these two powerhouses had just been knocked out.

"Silver, prepare us… we are trying that again." Sonic said, although his voice sounded so tired the white teen couldn't believe he was being serious.

"Are you crazy? We need another solution!" Silver said with incredulity.

"… Ok. Maybe we should look for Tails."

As Sonic said that, a black missile came out of nowhere, a missile that had Gemerld head on its tip. The flying object found resistance trying to break through to the force field, but after a good minute, it made it through. Once the missile stopped dead after crashing, it reshaped itself, expelling Tails, Espio, Storm and the previously mentioned robot.

"We are never doing that ever again." Tails mentioned while holding his sore head.

"Here I come." Storm shouted before running toward the entrance. Gemerl followed close by.

"Guys, wait!" Tails tried to stop them. Suddenly, the whole ship started feeling shaky. More fires kept erupting from the ship. It was then that Espio used his wind ninja techniques to turn off the fires.

"Go with them. I will try to stop this place from completely going into ashes." Espio explained.

"But-" Tails stammered.

"This is a technological problem. Only you can solve it." Espio answered.

The young fox felt pretty much obliged to comply, a little hesitant. He entered just as the other two guys. As he walked in the zeppelin, he watched how one of the monitors inside of it lit up. It was full with static, but a little twinkle here and there with his hands and it was back online.

"bzztt- Somebody there?" It was Wave, using her holo-pendant to enter to the ships monitors.

"Wave, it is me, Tails. Storm, Gemerl, Espio and I entered the ship. We will try to stop whatever is going on in here."

"Are you stupid or what?!" Wave shouted indignated. "Get out of my ship you mechanic wannabe."

"We can't. We barely made it in. I don't think we could make it out in one piece."

"Then why didn't you think about bringing someone more capable than you?!"

"We couldn't. Storm and Gemerl were already on their way here. Espio and I just had time to get in with them. They wouldn't listen."

"That sucking asshole! Next time I see him I am going to break him apart, rip his full plumage feather by feather. Then-" Wave continuously increased her speech speed, soon becoming a high-pitch gibberish, accompanied by really mean gestures.

"Wave, focus. Tell me how to fix this problem. I… I need your knowledge… on the ship to fix this" Tails force his words out, he was not comfortable asking for help. He was a mechanic and a problem solver, not to mention Wave was one of the worst persons he had ever met. She would probably make fun of him for who knows how long. But this needed to be done as soon as possible.

"Glad you recognize your lack of capabilities-" She started mocking at him. "-But I won't let your dirty mitts touch my creations!" She shouted, adamant

"Ok. Whose `dirty mitts´ do you prefer on your machines? The clumsy bird, the inept ninja or the happy trigger robot?" Tails asked with an expression that said that he wouldn't take much nonsense anymore. He hoped that in the actual situation she wouldn't be able to much but comply.

The swallow opened her mouth, ready to reply, but nothing came to mind. A little later, she started growling. "I hate you" She said, clearly beaten.

"It is mutual." He said with a blank expression.


	3. Prologue 3

With Wave´s instructions, Tails made it to the main terminal of the vehicle. And with her codes and instructions, he had no problem entering to the main system. From what Wave had explained, the ship had a cloaking device that covered it fully. Said cloaking device was manipulated and improved, which became this incredible force field. They also had a displacement protection machine that somehow put the ship in its own three dimensions, avoiding the chaos control. Wave also explained that they had an incredible amount of energy inside the ship and that it had to be stopped.

Already working on the main computer, he wouldn't have much problem entering and stopping all of this. Suddenly, he found himself unable to keep inserting commands to the computer. The monitor blackened, the only thing on it was an Eggman head laughing, multiplying itself along the laughter. Our young hero took a few steps back, surprised. He kept typing like a mad man hoping to possibly fight for the control back, and he was making progress. All he needed was a way to isolate the infested area from the rest of the machine. He introduced a few more commands, inserting an order and… out of the blue, a nasty blow came to his face. Petting his left temple, he rose his eyes: Eggman´s blue metal was above the young fox. Seemingly, his priority was to destroy the terminal, so he pointed his arms, which turned into an arm cannon. Tails reacted immediately, using his pair of tails to move the cannon, the blast hitting an empty spot of the ship. The world froze for a second for Tails, fear and regret starting to grow. He had just attacked a metal Sonic, one that others more capable than him had trouble with, while being all alone in a narrow passage of the ship and who knows where the others were. The metal was still for a moment, only now moving his head and looking at Tails´ eyes.

"Resistance found. Engage battle." The robot said. It might had your typical robot monotonous voice, but Tails could swore that it sounded like he was looking to it.

He threw a punch at the yellow fox head but the latter moved away at the right time. His assault continued with a round kick, hitting his opponent in the stomach and knock his air out. The boy needed a moment to recompose. As soon as he could, Tails flew toward the robot, carry him and, once he got as high as possible, he pushed the two of them against the floor to try to do some extra damage with the help of gravity. He indeed did damage... to himself. All his upper body burned, thanks to this attempt of an attack. He wondered if he had actually caused any harm to the robot.

The metal slapped him with his metalical back hand, sending Tails flying. Still on the floor, the metal moved closer, ready to finish it. It was then that the monitors turned on. On them, not only the fight that Tails was having with the blue metal was being projected, but also the fighting between the red metal, Gemerl and Storm in the energy storage area somewhere in the ship and it was being show in the projectors in the race track. The metal looked away, processing what it should do. On its back, the young mechanic saw a usb port, an idea formed, thought it would be a stretch if it worked.

He threw himself at the metal Sonic, landing on its back. Before the metal could react, he also took an usb cable that was already connected to the computer he was working before. The robot effortlessly threw him aside but not before Tails connected the other end on it. Soon, the robot starting moving uncontrollably, on its back eyes (eye?) the face of Eggman appeared, started laughing and multiplied just like in the computer. It wasn't long before the robot went down.

"Thank Chaos Eggman is a mediocre mechanic." He sighed in relief, still surprised Eggman wouldn't put an anti-virus program on his own robot to protect him from his own virus. Returning to his work, Tails still had to figure out how to save everything around here.

 _Elsewhere_

It didn't take Storm or Gemerl long to reach the containment area, where the red metal was working. Or at least, it used to be red but the overpowered machine was now golden, brimming with power. That didn't face the Albatross at all, who simply threw his fist directly on the metal´s face. However, the metal also launched a punch and, avoiding the bird attack, landed first and sent him flying.

"I will handle this." Gemerl said, revealing a number of machine guns, mini missiles and cannons inside him.

"Wait, if you hit any container, the whole Sky Fortress Zone will go 'Kaboom'" Storm explained, remembering how graphic Wave had explained to make sure he understood.

"Then what do you suggests, bird brain?!" Gemerl complained, putting his arsenal back in place. The metal attacked both of them with lightning, hitting and knocking both down. The bot moved closer to them and was ready to destroy the big bird with his optic lasers but Gemerl hit his leg, making it loosing footing and the shot. "If that's all you got then this won't take long."

The metal took a few steps back, but the black robot wasn't going to give him a chance: Gemerl launched a kick but the shining opponent blocked it with his arms. Before anything else, Gemerl and the metal started trading blows, apparently equals in speed and power. That was until Gemerl arm went numb, unable to block a punch to the face. "Shit." He said, feeling something on his neck getting a little loose. The same happened to his leg, another hit entering cleanly. The good robot was sent flying and crashed at one of the containers, denting it. He tried to lift himself but different parts of his body went on and off at different intervals, unable to do anything he wanted to. "Damnit." The metal walked slowly, closer to Gemerl, his eyes going red and filled with energy. *Sorry Cream, I could not stop him* He thought with certain fatality. He hated seeing Cream crying after he was badly damaged, made it feel like he had failed her.

The metal grabbed Gemerl and threw him away from the containers. Guess it didn't want to go off in a massive explosion. And, better yet, Storm appeared and punched the bot before it could react and crashed at the floor, leaving a full body dent on the floor. He didn't stop just there and continued punching him deeper and deeper. "Stop already!" He screamed, with full anger.

It seemed to be working. The color of the metal went to its original color. It span out of Storm reach, and directed himself at a cylinder. Pulling out several cables from his fingers he inserted those on the container. As he absorbed more energy, his colors started to fluctuate, slowly getting back that gold color it had before. Storm, however, wouldn't let it have his way and, lifting the cylinder and using it as a club, he tried to crush him. The robot however, kept avoiding him and connecting at available containers. "Hold still and let me destroy you." Storm shouted and flailed the giant object, finally connecting with the opponent. Except the metal had regained its gold color back and stopped Storm attack effortlessly. "Oh, ho." The big bird said slowly before getting thrown away, hit with his own make shift weapon.

"Did you lied about how durable those things are?! They are indestructible." Gemerl shouted, still trying to get a hold of himself.

"They are susceptive to energy and explosive. Aaaaah" Storm shouted receiving another hit by the metal.

"Dammnit." He cursed, observing the fight still going south. Thankfully, Tails made contact to his inner communicator.

"Gemerl. Do you copy?"

"Hey Tails, good to hear about you. Tell me you have a way to stop this asshole, because, you know, getting beaten over and over is not my idea for a fun time." He started as if it was a normal day, only to slowly change into an increasing anger.

"I have something. I am at the main terminal. I have video proof of what Eggman has done here and exposed him at the screens of the race track. However, the forcefield, winds and lightnings are not under the main machines control. It is likely the metal which is connected to everything, by a advance web…"

"Go to the goddamn point!" Gemerl snapped, knowing it didn't had his time.

"Get the metal out of the room once it runs out of energy. I will shut it and then everything should end." Tails explained.

"Seriously?! That's your brilliant plan?!" Gemerl answered. Then Storm was thrown again, looking like he wouldn't be able to fight any longer. "Here we go again." The bot sighed tiredly, not wanting to get into the fight again but still did. As expected, the metal beat him rapidly, putting Gemerl in a similar condition to Storm.

Once again, the shine on the metal went away. "Quick, we must get him out now." Gemerl forced out, trying to lift himself from the floor. Then his arm felt from its socket. "I need that!"

Storm managed to lift himself again but looked dizzy and ready to fall again. They wouldn't be able to prevent him from recharging again. Suddenly, when the metal looked the most vulnerable, Rogue appeared out of nowhere and hit the bot with her drill kick. The metal was pushed away, close to Storm who timely punched it too. It was pushed closer to the exit and further from the energy. It tried to fly, get to the energy on a different side from where the three heroes where but Gemerl arsenal made it step back again. Before it had time to react, they had already closed the gap between themselves and landed a hit. The metal resisted on place thought barely but the three just pushed forward, managing to get it out. "Tails, now!" he immediately said and the door closed in an instant.

There the fight was done, the metal was in a too damaged shape to keep fighting. However, our three guys were still not done. "Boys, it is payback time." Rouge said with a vicious smile.

* * *

With the metal out of the picture, things on the zeppelin rapidly normalized. Sky Fortress Zone was left too damaged, it was a surprise it was still standing. Gun was already adjusting its trajectory and height, hoping for it to fall in an empty and safe area. The race might had gone down the gutter but most of the people was unharmed and no one actually died, though every competitor was too tired to do anything after such a crazy experience. However, there was still a question left unanswered: Why they had taken so much wind energy and contained it? Why had they hidden themselves from the people? And, how was it so powerful?

"It is for dimension crossing!" Tails said in disbelief and awe, looking like the excitable kid people around him sometimes forget he is.

"Took you long enough, Shorty." Wave complained. "As he said, the amount of energy we stored was meant to let us do various dimension jumps before needing to recharge, at least until that goddamn metals showed up. As for the force field, it was the mechanism meant to fully cover the zeppelin and permit it travel. Eggman somehow weaponized it into that weird vortex and isolated it on the metal, forcing us to destroy it to stop it. It probably would have escaped but things got complicated for him again. As for why it was hidden, we knew that this amount of energy could be dangerous in the wrong hands. We were really hoping no one would notice."

"But Eggman did." Shadow interrupted.

"Nobody asked you, Emo the Edgehog." Wave snapped at him, something she regretted immediately since Shadow walking closer to the rogues as menacingly as ever was enough to worry anyone.

"Shadow, stop it." Rouge told him and he obeyed without saying much. "Look guys, you might be deep in charges, but from thief to thief, we will cover your escape. Just expect me wanting a retribution later." Rouge explained

"or else it is Omega and me you get." Shadow said.

"Or else you get them." Rouge said monotonously.

"That's our cue to get out of here." Jet stated but the rest of the racers got in their way.

"Didn't think you would just leave without a proper goodbye, didn't ya?" Sonic made them stop, accompanied by every single other racer that should have been in that last race.

"Let's leave this clear: We are not friends and next time we see each other, we will settle the score once and for all."

"Yeah. And I look forward to our next competition, buddy." He replied, knowing that Jet didn't like being called buddy.

"I said we are not friends." Jet shouted again.

"Why won't he just admit he likes Sonic?" Knuckles said with his eyes half closed, seeing his act pointless.

"Just like you once did, Knuckles?" Charmie joked.

"We are nothing alike!" Surprisingly, Jet and Knuckles answered at the same time, exchanged looks and decided to look away from each other with a *umph*.

"You know, you might be a thief, but you have shown honor and pride in your lifestyle." Espio said.

"Not that your opinion matters." Jet tried to dismiss his comment but he definitely looked flattered by his comment.

"Man, you are so easy to trick. Dumbass!" Charmie joked again, this time upsetting Jet enough to pursuit him with no result since the kid just flew out of reach.

On the other side, Amy, Silver and Tails were speaking with Storm, the three carrying the massive S-type board.

"My board!" The bird exclaimed in surprise.

"Good as new." Amy said

"It was a collective effort. Just don't tell Wave or she might get angry." Silver said as the big bird took it out of their hands.

"But. Why?" Storm asked, still looking at the board as in disbelief.

"Because… that's what friends do?" Tails asked, like it was the most obvious thing to say.

Storm put down his board and then hugged his friends softly, tears slowly flowing through his face. They didn't say anything, just let him cry to his heart content.

Wave didn't want to met with anyone, in fact she tried to avoid them and get to the ship as fast as she could. Pretty much everyone was giving her dirty looks for hitting the little sister of the group.

"Wave wait!" Cream shouted from behind, getting the swallow´s attention. Gemerl was at her side. "I have something for you." She said, showing her sun protective hat and a flower bracelet. "I know they are not your style and you can rejet them if you want to. I just wanted to give you something for you to remember me."

Wave remained silent, monotonous. She then took her own glasses and put them on the child's head. Cream´s eyes had an unique shine on them, like she had received something she had always wanted. "You better take good care of them, you heard me?!" Cream rose her eyes at Wave, a little jumpy from the intensity the bird expressed herself. However, Wave offered her a very kind smile. Little after Cream just threw herself at her friend and hugged her.

A little later, Cream went away with a smile on her face. Wave was also satisfied by the little exchange. "That was really sweet, you know?" A certain blue hedgehog appeared behing the bird woman, taking her by surprise just for a moment.

"What do you want? Getting angry just as everyone else? For you information, I was racing and one shouldn't just hold back because she is young!" She defended herself, even before he had the chance to say anything.

"And I thank you for that." Sonic just said. Wave looked at him like he was an alien, not believing what he said. "Look, I don't condone child abuse or anything, but my friends and I tend to overprotect Cream." He explained. "I would love for Cream to not needing to fight for herself but that's not the world we live in. We all need to be ready for whatever Eggman or any evil being wants to harm us. She is growing pretty capable and she will mature even better if we, her friends and family are willing to help her growth, not stopping it dead on its tracks." He continued, sounding sad, but serious and sure. Wave had actually never seen Sonic in such a manner.

"Well, I don't see you putting your weight in helping her grow." She said, trying to reduce her surprise for such a conversation.

"Well, Cream didn't go to you from zero, did she?" Sonic commented, back with his more cheerful self. Wave turned around, letting go a *umph* sound, and walked away.

And, finally, the trio of birds entered their ship. Once inside, they were able to look at their friends, still waving. Wave felt her heart starting to ache: She would miss psyching out Tails in whatever way she could; the little things Cream somehow convinced to do like just enjoy a flower field; that weird frenemy relationship she had with Rouge, both competitive but supportive. She didn't like how much she was already missing all of them.

Storm wasn't much better, tears still falling from his face. He had wiped them several times at this point, his arm feather soaked at this point from wiping: Smarter people had always been mean to him but Tails was always nice and he could be surprisingly silly and indecisive, things he could easily relate; The Chaotix were always fun and silly and he always had a blast with them, sometimes literally; He also liked Amy a bit, he could help her in some of her pastimes, though the girl was a little too violent when boxing for his liking.

"Get moving" Jet ordered in a low but demanding voice, giving them the back. They both noticed him shaking a little and they knew he was also affected by the goodbye. He would die to admit it but he also liked Sonic and his friends: for a while, the rogues were unmatched. He hadn't noticed that they had gotten dull. Even as thieves and treasure hunters, those things were producing to him less and less adrenaline and excitement.

Meeting the blue blur was like receiving a wake up slap. This made him realize that he wasn't the best, that he wasn't untouchable as he once thought. But not only as racers they had made him better: Shadow and Silver weren't foes he could just simply go and attack, forcing him to think more strategically; He also saw on them a much calmer and steadfast resolve, that made them better shot callers than him initially. In resume, they made him a better leader. The trio had changed, for better or worse, thanks to them.

Soon, the zeppelin was covered in a blue light and, soon after, the vehicle got transparent until it was no more.

* * *

Wave peek her head out, scanning the room. No one was in their living room. If you looked through the windows, you could see a weird blue coloration with white waves moving lengthways, signaling they were still traveling through dimensions. The female wasn't sure why she was doing this but she felt the need to just be alone, with the stuff Cream just gave her. She knew it was better to simply do that in her room but she felt it wouldn't be ok.

"Can't sleep?" Wave immediately hid the hat and flowers handed by Cream behind her. Storm appeared in the entrance of their living room. He looked concerned for his partner.

"Why do you even care?!" Wave snapped.

"I was trying to be nice. I won't kill you, you know!" he snapped back.

"You are just trying to make fun of me, you fool"

"Sho I jam a foot for being nice with you!?"

"You both are being fools!" a third voice joined, gaining the other two attentions. Jet looked just as sleep deprived as the other two. "Stop being annoying. We got a journey ahead and I need you two at your best."

The two older birds exchanged nervous looks. "Jet, don't you feel like-" Wave started.

"-this is the wrong-" Storm continued.

"-Thing to do?" Jet finished.

The rogues went silent for a bit. Each other completing the other sentence was not that weird. Bird anthros have strong accurate hunches, according to Wave a residual quality of weather guessing normal birds have to know when it is best to emigrate and where. It had happened a number of times at this point.

"Who cares?" Jet asked. "We are the Babylon Rogues. We have faced monsters, metal Sonics, even a black hole monster. It doesn't matter what comes at us. We will beat them." The Hawk speeches had improved over the years. "But we won't be able to do that if you are still looking back now." He lifted his fist, expecting his partners to do the same. More confident, they did as Jet expected, the three fist pumping together. "From now on, the Babylon Rogues only look forward, never backward."

* * *

Authors note here so it can be seen in both deviant and fanfiction.

Men, what I hoped to be a short, small prologue ended up being a not so short three part thing. But, I quite like what how this came out. If anyone asks why Wave and Cream were so close, it is RondineVoila fault, a deviantart artist who used to make drawings about the Rogues (I searched for him/her one of these days but couldn't find the account) and he/she made the connection that, in the first Sonic riders, the first Wave mission of each stage was always a Cream mission. I also like the idea that Sonic trained Cream for a bit. I imagine him having this kind of thoughts from the Sonic X series where he left Cream beat Emerl. Yes, I am using mostly videogame canon for this fic but Emerl story is the anime one.

The real fic start from here on out. And I hope it ends up being worthwhile. Special thanks to the previously mentioned RondineVoila, Chicago-pd-stars, K4ce, G30FF as well of any other Tails x Wave and Babylon Rogues artist (But specially any Tails x Wave) I have seen and read over the years. With Wave barely appearing in any Sonic the Hedgehog media, it is you guys who keep this ship floating. Finally, from this point onward there will be plenty of shippings and pairs. Can we keep it together? I have seen some youtubers putting their favorite Sonic the Hedgehog couples and the comment sections get a little out of control. From what I have seen, it is calmer here in fanfiction and deviantart but I still hope we avoid any heavy conflicts. NAstories out.


	4. Lost and Found

_Years have passed after the Second Grand Prix and not much changed for a while: People lived their lives the best they could; Eggman continued to make plans for world domination but surprisingly, our heroes managed to not only win, but minimize collateral damage, not letting plans evolve into global crisis by taking the fight to the evil scientist, with a few exceptions; New faces appeared to join the group and some new relationships and bonds were forged. In resume, things were looking up, especially considering that Eggman disappeared from the radar for over two years._

 _Then, everything changed. Eggman returned with a new and powerful weapon with the name of Infinite. It first act was not only confront Sonic, but destroy him. Disintegrate him, to be more specific, in front of a worldwide audience. Not only that but Sonic's previous enemies like Zavok and Metal Sonic and even reformed ones like Shadow and Chaos had joined the forces of evil. Knuckles and the Echidnas, both the Knuckle clan and the Nocturne clan, led the resistance along many other allies. However, Tails wasn't one of them. A lot of people instantly called him traitor, deserter and coward. Hope just seemed to decrease as things were getting worse._

 _But a silver lining appeared in a young Sonic and an extreme year rider named Rolls. Rolls was a nobody as a hero and racer, but the young Sonic shaped him into the hero he really was. Soon enough, Sonic returned, no one was sure how, but they didn't give a damn since the world needed a hero. Soon, Shadow and Tails returned to the feud. But the damage was done: the public had lost a lot of fate in their so called heroes, a lot of lives damaged and some were gone for good; the toll was starting to become evident, varying from person to person. Not even Sonic maintained his goodie-two-shoes persona scratch free, as he was forced to break his most important rule… he murdered Eggman._

 _It has been five years since that day. Life has returned to a more stable time. There had been many attempts to restore the most contaminated and destroyed areas of the world. Some had succeded, others not so much. Here is when our story begins._

* * *

The area was destroyed, buildings, roads and other constructions were damaged, entire pieces were missing from what seemed were the aftermath of explosions, some were cut in half entirely. The lower areas had a weird purple coloration from the toxic gases. It was hard to believe but this once was Westopolis.

GUN agents, both human and anthro, were on the scene, where heavy chemical protection gear, all spreading themselves at different areas of the city. Among them, there were some large mechanical structures. They looked like some kind of volcano made of glass. Soon enough, these structures were set in the correct place and activated. At unison, their started draining all the toxicity of the air. Soon, the agents could remove their helmets, among them a very famous black hedgehog we all know.

"Demolition squad, it is your turn. Don't leave a single structure on foot." The General barked orders on the communicator. As it was obvious, their job was to destroy everything. Shadow was part of said squadron. He would have loved to simply use his Chaos powers to destroy everything in sight but his superiors wouldn't let him have an emerald again, not since the whole fake Shadow confusion that Infinite had left on the world. They had him on a leash, even if he would never admit it.

Still, he was useful, especially in this dangerous environment. As some of the people tried to enter into one of the buildings, out of nowhere, some were kick out. Large tentacles came from that same building and grabbed some more people. Other soldiers surrounded the building, as they started to use their wispons to shot at the tentacles, as well of focusing on the bases of the structure, hoping for it to crash down on the monster. There were not fast enough as the capture soldiers desperately shoot at the tentacles, helplessly feeling how they were being drag into the building. Little after the soldiers were out of sight, something like a metalical press sounded, the shouting stopped. Finally, the structure give in, all of it falling on whatever that was.

The soldiers hoped to have a moment to regain their strength, hoping that, at least, this monster was down. Suddenly, that thing was back, lifting pieces of debris through the sky. The thing was a giant purple jelly thing that seemed to be constantly melting. It had tentacles and some giant, horror movie like series of teeth, all larger than your average anthro. The soldier kept shooting at it, but simply wasn't effective. With a fast move of its limbs, it crushed more soldiers, some dead in that very instant. "We need back up! We need back up!" One of the soldiers shouted on the communicator at the top of his lungs, darkness over him as the tentacle closing into him. Right before the hit landed, Shadow grabbed him and put him into a safer spot.

The black hedgehog gave a one eighty once he had saved, directly running toward the monster. The crushing tentacles were easy to avoid, but the monster tried to hit him with a horizontal swipe. Shadow jumped it too and tried the homing attack on it. However, the monster opened its mouth and started shooting its teeth, which were rapidly replaced. Shadow did his best to try to avoid them, but a simple graze from one of them was enough to make him bleed. Changing tactics, he bounced off from a flying tooth to change his direction, knowing that entering in his mouth would be suicidal. Instead, he opted for attacking on his blank spots, several spin dashes entering but none doing more than pissing his opponent as his squashy body absorbed most of the damage. *OK, this is getting tiresome* He thought. "Someone, hand me a burst wispon." Shadow shouted on the comm.

For a second, he ran away from the monster, taking the desired wispon from his hand and he went back right on the monster face. "Hey. Ugly, want a piece of me? Take a bite!" He shouted, a little part of him wincing since he could swear he sounded just like Sonic. *If the faker finds out, he will never let this go.*

The monster tried to hit Shadow but he kept dodging and returned to his original spot after every dodge. The monster got upset enough to throw himself head first, which Shadow also avoid. He then used the homing attack, landing in what would be the creature`s back of the neck. Then, he activated the Burst power and exploded, the monsters liquid leftovers spilling all over the place. Shadow rose, totally covered in goop. Some rapid spins and the dark hedgehog was clean.

"Take five. I will check the surrounding buildings to see if any more monsters are around." He told personally to the captain of the squadron.

"Look Shadow, we are thankful for saving our asses out there but you must be kept under vigilance…" He responded, not finishing because Shadow just ran away, the powerful zoom sound stopping the agent speech.

"I wasn't asking for permission." He answered on the communicators, already going into some of the buildings. The soldier was still dumbfound at that moment.

Mutated beings had appeared in these areas. People originally had hope that there would be survivor on this areas, at least on the first year after Eggman`s defeat. Teams brought medical equipment's, hoping to save someone, any life counted. They met a terrible fate. The first group died instantly, at the hands of similar goop monsters like the last one. The first attempt was a failure, but as their security and soldiers became better, they were finally able to save some people. It also ended awfully as the people who had being saved turned into said monsters fast, way before anyone could analyze and hope to stop this. Sometimes, they remained normal for a while, enough time for their families to reunite with them, and then they morphed and, well, took them all together with it. So far, no person had ever avoided this fate.

So what would you do if you found a friend in this situation? Shadow just observed in horror as the person who he just found inside the building was none other than certain purple Swallow knocked out cold in the floor, her extreme gear at her side. He pondered it a bit. She was bound to turn into a monster at any sec, if he simply ignored her and destroyed the building with her inside, then no problem, no one would ever know about her and he would avoid a lot of trouble that way. *But could I look at her again in the eyes if I just kill like that?* Shadow could not stop the thought. He also cursed himself internally, thinking he had actually gone soft. *Giving them to GUN is telling them to kill her so that's not an option either. That leaves me… Urrrgh. There is never an easy choice with me…* He cursed. He then grabbed Wave and carried her on his back.

He ran as fast as he could, hoping to not being seen. Shadow was trying to improve his social image and this stunt would likely cost him points. Nevertheless, he was just a few thousand miles from Mystic ruins. He hoped for the possibility to get to Tails, leave his package and get back to help fast enough. However, as he continued to run, he couldn't help but notice something: he was going slower than in the beginning. The knocked Swallow was starting to feel a lot heavier than what he expected. *Is she getting heavier?* that's what he thought but as he continued, he felt his leg burning horribly, forcing him to walk. Soon, even walking was painful. *Am- am I getting… tired?* He thought, each step feeling like an agonizing shore. He had reached the designated place but now he had to climb a crazy large staircase to reach the place. "Fuck me."

Still, armed with decision, he started the difficult task. Each step was painful; he needed a second for each step to gather enough strength for the next. The weight on his back only increased, feeling right now as he was carrying the world on his shoulders. Sweat continued to flow through his body, almost to the point that it could look like rain. He had never being so relieved to finally reach the end of the stairs. *Fuck this!* He threw Wave to the floor, not caring if it hurt or not. Walking like a zombie, only moved by willpower, he knocked the door. After that simple act, his body gave up, falling to the floor at his side.

Tails came out a little later. He looked down, looking at Shadow cold body. "Shadow?" was all he said. Looking a little further, his sight also found his infamous rival. "God damnit."


	5. Long time no see

Shadow had the worst headache in his life, raising himself slowly from the medical bed. He realized that he had fainted, for whatever reason, meaning he hadn't returned to GUN for who knows how long. "This is gonna be fun to explain."

"You won't need an explanation." Tails said while still working on his computer, not even bothering to look away from the machine. He was wearing a large lab coat. "I sent one of your robot duplicates."

Shadow eyes opened a lot when he said that, though only for half a second. "The murderous Eggman robot that if glitches will destroy the entire GUN facility?" He sounded no different than any other time but he was actually concerned about the people wellbeing.

"Those ones. You really appreciate your job, don't ya?" Tails commented. Shadow only looked at him. "Don't worry… yet. Your physician says you will stay in bed for the next few days until you can get to some mystical waters."

"And why would I need that?" He asked with his eyes half closed.

"Take a look at your back quills." Tails answered while handing him a small mirror.

Shadow did as asked. He was taken by surprise by what he found. Many of his back spikes turned pinkier the closer they were to tips, its texture didn't look all that different from pink meat you might find in a market. "What the hell happened to me?!"

"It was Wave." Shadow rose his eyes at the fox. And rose indeed since Tails, fully standing was about a foot taller than your average anthro. Fox genes were generous with him. "I took my time to analyze both Wave and you while unconscious and things, well it got crazy fast. Wave organism is expelling some kind of weird hormone, capable of damaging you at a cellular level. You back area is the most damaged one because it was the one in direct contact with her body, but your entire cell population is being affected by her even at this distance. Take a look at this." He said, pulling a bottle with some kind of dust in it.

"What is this suppose to be?"

"Some of your quills." Shadows eyes opened a lot. He hated being taken by surprise, especially now that Tails had a shit-eating grin right now. The fox sat down again, pressing enter on the machine, showing a video. It showed Tails leaving the quills in the bottle completely sealed just a few feet away from the Swallow. After that, things sped up and in what looked like instants, the quills rapidly degenerated, turning in to the black dust now contained.

"How long it took to do that?" Was the only thing in Shadow´s mind at the moment.

"Little more than an hour. It is like nothing I have ever seen… or like anything that should be in a swallow´s organism." Tails then went back to his computer, introducing more orders into the machine. "That lead me to believe we would find something else that shouldn't be there." Suddenly, on screen, a diagram of Wave body appeared. One final touch on the keyboard and a radar like circle started appearing on the bird´s brain. He waited for Shadow to say something since he thought he would find it familiar.

"… Am I suppose to say anything right now?" Shadow asked a minute after Tails did that.

Tails remained silent for a moment, realizing that he wasn't in the room with the rest when the big reveal happened. "Sorry, you weren't there." He apologized. "Not sure why I thought you were." Said next, just to himself. "This is exactly how Cosmo´s brain looked when we discovered that she was a spy for the Metarex." Tails looked serious at that moment, even respectful. The horror and pain of losing Cosmo still stung him even after so many years.

Shadow remembered them all too well. He also remembered how coldly he chased both the girl and the fox that time on the ship, thinking it was the best solution to the situation. He really wasn't happy for his past list of atrocities. "But you can do something about it this time, right?"

"I am a mechanic. This is out of my area of expertise. But not even the best neuro surgeon can assure us that she would come out alive."

"What about the possibility of her becoming a monster out of nowhere?"

"… What are you talking about?" Tails asked, finally not prepared to hear what he heard.

"I found her on a toxic site. The ones that Eggman nuked where monsters only come out. Don't tell me you didn't noticed?" Shadow had not finished before Tails continued to introduce keys to the machine.

"I ran several diagnostics. There were some things found on these people. Symptoms of the transformations. I found nothing." He said, but still felt necessary to run a second diagnostic. However, it also found nothing. "Nothing. Almost like she wasn't there."

"Then I will take her to GUN. Keep her on check. Out of problem."

"Sure, take her to the organization with data on every person on the world and close to you until you literally become dust for overexposure. Sure it is the best route to take" Tails responded, full of sarcasm.

"You think you have a better idea?"

"She is staying with me." He almost sounded bored, he also looked since he was supporting his head with his arm.

"That such a better idea." Shadow answered, rolling his eyes. He still could see just how serious Tails was about this. "Wait, you can´t just do that." Shadow said, grabbing the fox by his coat. Tails responded by grabbing Shadow in the opposite area of his elbow. Instantly, the black hedgehog felt like he was about to faint. "Motherfuuuuckkeerrr." He said, his voice going lower just as his body was going again to the floor. Tails was wearing a smile during the whole thing.

"You are a hedgehog just like Sonic. I can stop you easily." He said. He then stood up again, taking a moment to fix his clothing before running into the next room, where Wave was on a medical bed, tied to the chair by mechanical restraints. He had also taken away her golden bracelet and holo-pendant. For anyone, that golden bracelet would have looked like a trinket, but Tails instantly recognized it as an Ark of the Cosmos.

On the other room, Wave opened her eyes, still not fully awake. She tried to move but then she noticed the metal bars holding her in place. This instantly woke her up. She tried to struggle to the restraints but it was too tight. She searched for her tools but she had nothing on her, just a hospital gown. Fear suddenly started to take over her, as her surrounding didn't showed anything. No window, no people, no noise, no anything. She was sure; she needed to get out of here fast.

*Ka-clung* A metallic sound was hear, the door opening, a certain fox with a doctor coat coming out of it. He also brought a pair of blue and white bracelets. *Play it cool, Wave.* "So handsome, what are you up to? You know, couple bracelet are not my thing. Get us a pair of handcuff and I can show you how to have fun? Unless you are gay, I can find a pair of guys who I bet will fit your fantasies." She commented, hoping to mask any weakness. He ignored her completely, only putting a bracelet on her arm. At that moment, the pair of tails from the man were shown, leaving Wave speechless for a moment. "Shorty?!" She couldn't believe it. He was taller than her, no childish look on his face, his eyes looking steelier, everything in him said strong, calm and collected.

"In the flesh. Also not so Shorty anymore."

"Let go of me you freaky bastard!" Tails silently complied. "That wasn't too bad. Now take this thing off and give me back my things." She ordered.

"Yeah, no." He answered, also wearing the other bracelet.

"I was not asking for them."

"I don't care what you demand or not."

"If you think I will do what you want then…"

"Wave, I don't have time for this. All you need to know is that you are staying with me because you were found in a radioactive area. Thanks to that, you could become a monster at any moment and I imagine you don't want that to happen. You can't either go anywhere else because GUN is probably the only organization with the technology to save you from that but they have orders of killing anyone infected. So, you either stay with me or you die." He answered in a monotonous and fast tone, really hoping to get that as fast as he could.

Wave remained silent for a moment, blinking in a bit of a daze. "If you think I believed a single word you said then you are absolutely nuts. You have lost it Shorty. I am out of here." She said, trying to walk away. Suddenly, she felt something holding her arm, the one that had the bracelet. She looked back but Tails was at a good distance, with his arm with his own bracelet up. The fox made a sudden movement with it and the swallow felt the yank, almost falling because of it.

"Like I said, I don't care what you demand." Tails said, with a grin.

"What the heck is this?!"

"Electric handcuffs. Perfect for keeping people at my reach but I can length the range so we don't have to worry about uncomfortable situations."

"My, my, Tails, you looking all mature there but you are clearly just still a little kid. If you can't stand any uncomfortable situation." She tried to mock. "But if you think I can't simply escape from this when I have my chance…" She tried to stay defiant. Tails just threw her holo-pendant back. Wave looked at it, knowing something suspicious was going on. "What is the trick?"

"To show you how futile it is to resist." He explained. Wave took the challenge a little to heart, trying to hack her bracelet with her pendant. Just a few moments when she entered to it, a countdown started on the bracelet, starting from twenty and going down. Wave stopped everything at seventeen, the countdown also stopping. "It starts with interference, if the countdown go to zero, well, you will have to become lefty. The same will happen if you try other means of getting rid of it like blowing it up or maybe phasing through it, just without the countdown." He explained, moving closer to Wave. The girl looked up to him, her eyes full with horror. She couldn't believe how, but, even if Tails body was nothing like Eggman´s, the expression he was wearing, a wicked smile too similar to Eggman´s when he was at his best. "Now, what will you do?"

Wave didn't want to give up to him but he really left her option less, for now. She just needed to play his game until she found an opening. "Geez Shorty, don't get all that intense. Guess I will stay at your mediocre hotel." If something Wave was thankful about herself was that even at the most dire she could still hide her fear and doubts, looking confident and strong.

"You are not staying here for free. You are working for me." Wave was ready to reply, but Tails just beat her to it. "I run an extreme gear workshop in the upper levels from this structure. Even after all those years you lost, I am confident you will still be a competent partner. Heck, you will also get up to speed to the modern designs of extreme gears, so you should be thanking me." Tails said, with clear arrogance.

The swallow growled a little, not liking his tone and mannerism. But she also remembered to not lose her cool. However, one thing that lingered in her mind. "All the years I lost?"

"Took you long enough, Shorty." Tails said, not only imitating a line she used on him after a few days they met, but also imitating her voice the best he could.

"Did you have to sound so gay?" Wave quipped. After a few seconds of silence, she still asked. "How long have I been gone?"

"I am now twenty years old. You can do the math from there." Was all Tails said, no quip, no snarky tone. Just a straight answer.

Wave needed a minute to process what he just said. No one would blame her. According to her, she had just being traveling through dimensions for two years. She knew perfectly that time moved very differently from dimension to dimension. But she was certainly not expecting disappearing for a decade.


	6. Swallowing the changes

Authors note:

Hello people of Fanfiction. I wanted to apologize about something. During the last chapter, I had a short conversation from a person who wrote a review and there are some things I should clarify. In the first prologue I mentioned that Wave had known Cream for two years. The idea behind that time was to take into consideration the Grand Prix that happened in the Sonic riders cannon: in year 0 happened the original riders, after one year happened the Sonic free riders game and after two years happened the competition of the fanfic (during Zero Gravity, the second sonic rider´s game, there isn't a grand prix in the story mode so in my headcannon it happened between year zero and 1, because the Grand Prix are annual competitions).

That means that everyone was two years older than their cannon counter parts (Tails went from 8 to 10, Jet from 14 to 16, Wave from 18 to 20 and so on and so forth). It was something I explained… in my deviantart account, not in my Fanfiction one. Sorry about that.

After that, the Babylon Rogues traveled to dimensions. Using Sonic X and Sonic Chronicles: the dark brotherhood´s logic, time travels different in different dimensions, so for them, it had only been 2 years since that grand prix and for the rest of our heroes, ten years had passed. So, Tails right now is twenty while Wave would be twenty two. I think that´s it. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

"Be careful where you step. You probably want to avoid…" Tails started as they finally entered the next room, where he had left Shadow. However, the black hedgehog was not where he left him. "…the grumpy hedgehog." Tails ended, worry finally appearing on his features. Then Shadow fell from the roof and crashed over Tails.

"Who do you think you are you goddamn bastard!?" He screamed at the fox absolutely livid. Tails looked very scared.

"Shadow. Don't do something you might regret." He said, for the first time not in control of the situation.

Wave put herself some distant between the two. She also couldn't help but notice the pink at the back of the hedgehog and wondered what was that. "Hey, what happened to your back?" She asked with no apparent malice.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CONVERSATION!" Shadow roared.

Wave decided to remain silent for the time been. *Geez.*

"Give me a good reason why shouldn't I kill you at this moment!" Shadow shouted

"If you kill me, Wave will be forced to carry my corpse around for the rest of her life, for starters." He answered.

"Wait, what?" Shadow asked.

"Wait, what?!" Wave shouted.

"Yeah, I considered that you might try to kill me in my sleep or something. If that were to happen, you would have to carry my dead body around because, if my hand were to be cut of my body, by natural means such as decomposition or severed, you also lose your hand."

"What the fuck, Shorty?! This is getting absolutely ridiculous. Do you really think I believe all this bullshit you are selling me?!"

"The real question is, does he believe it?" Tails said, moving his head toward Shadow. Just as the fox expected, Shadow looked a bit hesitant. He still delivered a solid punch but nothing as severe as he had planned.

"One of these days Tails, one of these days." Shadow said while stepping away from him. Wave gulped. This was Shadow the hedgehog, one of the strongest and no nonsense person Wave had met and Tails still won the discussion. She wasn't about to let him know her fears however.

"Wet your pants a bit, eh Shorty?" She teased.

"I would love to see your reaction if having Shadow above you with murderous intentions." He replied a little choked, as he stood up.

"Shadow, would you tell this dreamer that he is utterly crazy if he believes that I need him because I could become a crazy monster?"

*But I thought Tails…* He thought, remembering that the fox told him that she was clean. Then he realized that he needed an excuse to do more studies on her, and telling her that she was poisoning Shadow was probably a very bad idea. "He is not lying." Wave looked surprised, really expecting that Tails was just playing her. "I am the one who found you in a toxic area and brought you here. Had I any other option, I would have taken it over the Eggman-wannabe here." He explained.

Wave had her jaw open for a while, her eyes geniuly surprised that everything Tails said was confirmed by Shadow. "Ok, let's stop all this crap already! Could someone care enough to explain what the hell went wrong all over this place?!" Wave snapped, finally unable to take this anymore.

Shadow and Tails exchanged looks, both asking the silent question, who should do it? "I leave this to you. I am too tired for this nonsense." Tails said before walking away.

"Wait, you can't just…" But Tails had already walked away from a door. "…Leave me here with her." He ended, with a more giving up voice.

"Wait a minute, you told me that I am stuck with you. Where am I supposed to sleep?!" Wave shouted.

Shadow just sighed. He planned on playing innocent until he could get out of there. Might as well also explain the shallow everything that had happened in the last decade. "I know where the extra rooms are in here. I will take you there after the explanation. I would say, you were victim of the time shifts from the dimension travels. You don't look like you have aged all that much" Shadow said in a surprisingly calm manner. He hadn't checked out Wave until now, since she was at such a dangerous area. Had you asked him before, he would have not been sure but now, he could tell that she didn't look like she had aged more than a few years.

Wave looked at him in surprise, followed by a more relaxed stance, tired of being at the defensive for so long. "Tails mentioned that a decade had gone by since our last grand prix, while I thought only two years had happened."

"A little above ten years, indeed."

"….What happened?"

"Eggman stepped up his game. His latest monster managed to get rid of Sonic and me, in front of a global audience. Not only that, but he managed to get several dangerous monsters on his side, like Chaos and Zavok, even a fake me. A resistance was formed to fight the enemy, where most of our allies battled Eggman and his forces. Tails, was not one of them."

"Tails is a traitor?!" She actually couldn't believe what she said. He was so loyal to Sonic and company, it was unthinkable.

"The complete opposite. Infinite, Eggman´s newest monster, didn't destroy us. Tails knew that so, to work privately, he made sure to make everyone believe he had given up. There was even a rumor about him committing suicide. However, he never gave up. Only the closest to him knew about this and even after the whole mess was over, it remained a small group those who knew everything. But by the time he returned, it was like he was somebody else. One with no respect for life at all."

"He was the one he is now." She said with a soft voice. "So what happened to him exactly?"

"We still don't know." Wave almost fell from hearing that answer.

"Seriously?!" She half shouted.

"He never told us exactly what happened. We even managed to talk with Eggman about this before ending him for good. He admitted that he had sent several bounty hunters for Tails head but no one ever returned or reported, meaning that not even him knew what or who did it to him."

"And what the hell made you think it was a good idea to threw me into such a mess of a person?"

"Don't misunderstand; it has been more than six years since we stopped Eggman for good. Since then, he had received plenty of psychological help ever since." He explained. "Which he murdered a few." He said to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. The point is, Tails is not nearly as much of a monster he once was and there was literally no other option."

"…What are the chances that he might commit suicide now?" Shadow looked at her curiously. "Tails safety measure if dead comes around happens **after** he dies. If he is so smart, he would have put the measure before his death. Feels like he wants to die, even if only to a subconscious level."

"… I see." He said, sounding like he didn't know. "I am honestly not sure if he would commit suicide or not."

Wave didn't like that answer, especially if she would lose her hand if something bad happened. However, she could only roll with what she had. But there was one final question that she imagined what would be the answer, but she still wanted confirmation. "Where are Jet and Storm?"

Shadow also knew that question was unavoidable. "No idea."


	7. Safer ground

Wave rolled on the bed once more, the talk she had with Shadow still lingered. He didn't stay that long, apparently GUN was a lot more restrictive to him because the people no longer trusted him. He never got to clarify that the Shadow that joined Infinite was a fake one, not him, so he was under constant vigilance. He said something about a robot Shadow that Tails sent that could blow up the entire facility in seconds. The longer he stayed here, the more likely the robot would starting causing troubles. It was official; there was nothing that Wave could take like a joke right now.

He also explained that they were a lot less lenient on anthros. The reputation that the heroes had created was gone, a lot of those vigilantes were ordered to stop or joined legal armed forces. Rouge had actually stopped working with them because her number of crimes was too big for them to ignore. He was confident she was fine. He ended explaining that no one was the same. Some way or another, everyone had changed a little, usually for the worst. They still had some recovery to do. Oh, lets also not forget about the advise of not pressing Tails bottoms too much. Or that she might regret it.

*But how will I be able to do that? That the best part of being close to that idiot.*She thought. Another spin on the bed and she decided to do something useful with her insomnia.

* * *

 _Tails was at a dark forest, running as fast as he could. He tried to ignore the cuts caused by the branches, which pierced through his skin and fur. His was dragging around his famous pair of tails, the pair was broken and damaged, each step bringing him pain. The adrenaline in his mind was the only thing permitting him to keep going. In the distance, you could hear the squeaks of birds: these were endless, unnerving and constantly growing._

 _"There he is!" Miles heard. A pair of unclear shades were a little further away. He stopped and scanned his surroundings, searching of an escape route. Behind him, another group of shadows loomed and was getting closer._

 _He went to his right, were he hoped to lose them. Instead, he found a dead end, a cliff was the only thing in front of him. If he were to jump, the fate would be to land on sharp shaped rocks and/or drowning in the sea. He turned around, the humanoid shadows just became bigger and bigger, now reaching the size of giants. For each step they took, Tails did a back step too, the horror of them catching him was unbearable. He made up his mind. He bent back and let gravity catch him, feeling the wind that represented him falling start. Barely a second happened before… something surrounded him, felling like tiny bullets grazing his body and cutting him even further, his whole body feeling in fire. That wasn't the scariest part, however: the scariest part was that they were pushing him back up. The thing that he couldn't understand was defeating gravity and slowly but surely, put him back at the reach of his attackers._

 _He tried to lift himself, try anything to escape or fight back, but before he could achieve anything, they put a foot on Tails head, heavily. The rest joined him, stomping him all over his body, laughing as they humiliated him. In the pain, in the suffering, he kept hearing a single thing among the chaos. A single word kept ranging and ranging, growing in volume, clear even if everything else was becoming more and more blurry. "Kill." The word kept repeating itself on his head. "Kill. Kill. Kill"_

Tails woke up, sweat all over his body, his breath was ragged. He checked his arms, noticing that he had no injury in them. *Kill.*His head started aching, each pulsation was like a hit in the head, hits that were getting worse and worse. *Kill.* He opened a drawer from the night table, one containing syringe. He immediately injected himself in the arm. *Kill.* He lifted himself from the bed, feeling nausea and sickness. However, the headache diminished, the voice going softer and softer. *Kill her before she gets youuu* The voice finally subsided, as well of the pain. He sat on the floor needing a minute to restore his strength.

"It´s Ok. It is ok. You knew this would happen. Nothing you can't handle." He told himself between breaths

He considered going back to sleep but with that scary dream still present, he thought to walk a bit. "Maybe something to eat won't hurt."

So he went to his kitchen, grabbed a donut and went back to bed, or that was the plan until he saw a light coming from a dark room. The computer room.

Wave was typing instructions as a madman, trying to bypass Tails passwords and firewalls and failing so far. Suddenly, the lights went on. She froze in place, gulping. "Shit."

"Couldn't wait until morning?" Tails asked smiling, a -busted- smile on his face. Wave remained silent for a moment, processing the fact that Tails was shirtless only wearing pj pants; the only thing happening on her was that her eyes were slowly going lower and lower over the fox. "Um, Wave, my eyes are up here."

"You are fat!" She shouted in disbelief.

"That´s… all you can say?" He said in a disappointed way. He knew he had added a few pounds, his stomach looking plump and squashy instead of slim and defined as it once was. But he wasn't that fat.

"YOU ARE SO FAT!" She repeated, still not fully processing it.

"It is called skinny fat, for your info."

"YOU ARE FATTER THAN BIG THE CAT."

"I am not that fat!" He shouted, completely losing his composure.

"Fat!" She said before slapping his Stomach. Miles head turned completely red.

"Stop that!" the fox shouted and tried to hit the girl´s hand but she was fast enough to avoid it.

"You are too slow." She mocked in a singing manner, a victory for her. Like she had thought before, touching his bottoms was the best. "You will thank me later. I would also avoid mid-night snacks if I were you." She commented when the fox was about to take another bite at his donut. He stopped and gave it a look, almost not eating it. He still did.

"Whatever."

"That reminds me, why are you wearing clothers? Shadow was also wearing clothes at all times. And you are wearing pants right now. I forgot to ask Shadow."

"Some crazy princess from a place called Soleanna obsessed over the idea of anthros and humans having cross species relationships. Intimate relationships. I think no man wanted to get laid with her." He explained, a bit of frustration coming out of his body. "The trend spread like fire, but now, people started saying that clothless anthros are teasing people and are ´vulgar´ so now all anthros must at least wear clothes to hide the private areas."

"That´s bullshit."

"I know, right?" He answered.

"Seriously, a world barely managing to keep itself together and that´s what has people concerned?"

"To be fair, the world has been literally broken apart before and we managed fine."

"One would think that nothing could take us by surprise at this point. Yet somehow, more and more absurd things keep going on and on and on."

"Yeah." Both remained silent for a moment, feeling surprisingly comfortable with the other. The whole demeanor that Tails was boasting before was lost. "Soooo, what were you trying to do in the computer?"

"...You aren't going to murder you if the thing I wanted to use it is not of your liking?" The tense atmosphere was back in that instant.

"I might do something dire if I don't get an answer."

"Look, I just wanted to look the news. It is clear that I don't know everything that has happened even with Shadows explanation. And, I am apparently your prisoner so what options do I have?"

"There was a TV with cable in your room."

"Nobody sees TV anymore. Did it suddenly grow back in popularity?"

Tails looked at her with a careful eye. He then sighed. "The password is tailsgottagofast. All in lowercase, replace t with seven and o with zeros." Wave answered by lifting one of her eye lashes, not telling him anything else. "Look, if I know you like I think I do, you won't rest until you get access to anything here. That would mean that you would tear everything apart to do so if necessary. I prefer to let you in peacefully rather to start a war in my house."

Wave blinked twice. The young fox looked and acted differently. More approachable. It was not the wannabe Eggman he was just that evening. She introduced the password and finally the computer entered. "OK. Why is your password gotta go fast? Like seriously?!" She quipped.

Tails smiled weakly at her remark, with an honest smile. "Goodnight Wave. Don't burn down the house in my sleep." He said as he walked away.

"Wait." Wave said, and Tails stopped and turned around. She actually stopped to reconsider what she was about to do, since the fox was so unpredictable and changing. She decided to keep with her plan. "Do you keep in touch with everyone? Like, you know where they are and what they are doing right now?"

"With the majority, yes."

"How is Cream doing? And her mother Vanilla?" The moment the words left her mouth she immediately regretted asking. Tails opened his eyes a lot, looking surprised. He looked away, not wanting to talk about the topic. Wave knew that she had just fucked up big time.


	8. The more things changes part 1

_Earlier that day_

It was early in the morning, the only thing filling the air was the sound of vehicles and the sound of little kids playing, laughing, running, being little kids. The young woman sighed satisfied: she knew a lot of people would freak out by having to take care of little kids but she loved it. They were so innocent, pure and simple. She liked their company. However, she did have to admit they could be a handful. She entered the room. "Good morning kids!" She greeted, giving them the warmest smile she could.

"Morning Miss Cream." The kids answered in unison.

"We have a fun day right in front of us. So, who wants to hear a song?" Cream asked. The kids then started shouting happily. The rest of the day was what you expect from a kindergarten, with kids having fun under the constant vigilance of Cream the rabbit. Within time, it was the kids time to sleep. Some kids required a more special handling, such as singing a lullaby or a little moving. However, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Before long, all the kids were sleeping.

She walked a few rooms away, listening a familiar voice have some kind of discussion. "I heard you Vector. I am the chef here, I know what I am doing." He shouted annoyed.

"Just like the time with the chocolate cake?" Vector remembered him, an ear to ear smile on his muzzle.

"That was years ago. Stop treating me like a kid!" Charmy shouted at them.

"Then start acting like one." Espio told him. Then smoke appeared from the next room. "And your soup is starting to burn."

"Crap." The bee man shouted and went to turn off the fire. Luckily, the soup was still edible.

"Hey Charmie, is the food ready?" Cream poked her head into the kitchen.

"It is almost ready." He answered. Cream still entered at the kitchen, a thing instantly caught on her eyes. Charmie, just about everyone really, had to take some medicine for the mental traumas. He had his at a corner of the kitchen.

In a moment when the bee wasn't looking, she took them and counted them. *He still hasn't drink today´s pill.*

"Here it is!" Charmie appeared with a cup of soup, offering it to Cream. Cream had already left the medicine where she found it.

Cream took a spoon of it. A single sip made her entire face turn into a huge smile, blushing red just for how good it was. "Hmmmmm. Incredible as usual."

"Thanks! It might even taste better if the two idiots here would help me!" He snapped at his two partners in crime.

"You are the one working here, not us."

"Whatever."

Cream let her friends keep ranting for a while. She hadn't seen Charmy that animated in a while. That wasn't the only reason to leave. When taking care of kids, you can't permit yourself to just leave them alone for a second, or things could go wrong easily. Cream however, had developed some kind of sixth sense, to let her know when something was out of place. Just as she expected, when she returned to her classroom, one of the kids was missing. She already imagined where he was.

Without batting an eyelash, she made a beeline toward the music room. As she expected, a little kid was over the piano in the room. The piano was locked to avoid kids from making too much noise or from damaging it, whether intentional or not. The kid was trying to force it open, at least, until Cream entered. He immediately jumped away from the thing and pretended not doing anything.

"Manik, what are you doing here?" Cream asked him.

"Nothing." The kid answered to her, like nothing had happened. Cream stared at him intensively. The kid looked at her very scared, he had never seen the rabbit that angry. "I- I just wanted to see the piano." He stammered.

"Why did you say nothing?" Cream asked, keeping her calculate eye on the kid.

"Because I thought you would nag me and ground me." He said with a wobbly voice.

"Do you regret doing it?"

"Yes, miss Cream. I am sorry."

"Do you promise me to not lie again?"

"Yes Miss Cream."

"Good." Cream started to look a bit more at ease. "Now, do you really want to see the piano?"

"Really?" The kid shouted dreamily. Cream moved forward from him, unlock the piano and opened it. The kid immediately jumped to the chair. He touched the keys and the piano let go a very disjointed song. He put his hands away from the object.

"Why don't you try this?" Cream took over the piano and played a short but nice melody. The kid followed the best he could but it wasn't sounding good yet. Cream took his little hands and positioned on the keyboard. The kid was making some progression, following Cream indications, first slowly but soon getting confidence and speed. "You really like this instrument, right?"

"Yes, Miss Cream."

"I think we could talk to your parents and see if they accept to have your learning how to use a piano someday. Would you like that?"

"Yes, I would really like that!"

"But you need to put a lot of effort to learn how to play. You have to promise me that." She demanded with a serious face, but also offering him the baby finger. Had it been anyone but a kid she made both things, they would have thought it was ridiculous. The kid took it very seriously and gave her the little finger too. "All right. But we must return now to the rest of the class. We will continue this other time."

"AAAAAAAAWWWWWWW" the kid whined.

"No ´awwww´. We go back now." She said. Then she closed the piano, took the kid hand and walked back to her classroom.

"Miss Cream, what does memorial means?" The kid asked. Cream looked surprised and stopped dead on her tracks, the kid almost falling for the sudden lack of moment.

"Wh-Why do you ask?" Cream asked uneasy, not expecting such a question.

"This place is named Vanilla´s Memorial Kinder. Why?" The kid asked innocently but Cream only looked more panicked. She tried to hide her face from vision so the kid couldn't see it.

"It- it is so people don't forget what is important." She tried to hide her discomfort with a smile but even the kid saw behind her ruse.

"Why are you crying? I didn't know adult cried." The kid pointed out. Cream looks of surprise only increased when she realized she was actually shedding tears.

She tried her best to just wipe them from her face and remain at ease but it was still noticeable the pain. "Adults cry too, just a little less than kids." She said with wobbly voice. The kid decide to remain silent for now, not wanting to make things worse.

 _Back to the present_

Wave put her hand on her beak, the pupils on her eyes becoming just a tiny point. Tails remained silent, letting it fully land on her. A few minutes went on, her looking away and looking bad. But the fox remained silent and patient.

"I- I am sorry." She had very softly.

"I know." He answered in a similar manner.

"Did- did she had a peaceful death?"

"… We were able to bury her full body." He gave an apologetic answer. It wasn't the answer of the question she asked but it left her a feeling of understanding and terror to what that answer implied.

"Who else died?" She asked, sure that she wasn't ready for the answer.

 _Elsewhere, earlier that evening_

Gemerl arrived to the Kinder, taking both Charmy and Cream home. On time, the duo came through the door.

"Oh, mistah robot. How are you doing?" He asked.

"Coming for you guys, don't say you forgot again?" Gemerl answered in a cheerful manner.

"But I have both Espio and Vector here with me. I don't need another chaperone."

If robots could emote, his eyes would have gotten so big out of surprise. The next thing he did was look at Cream with incriminating eyes. "May I have a minute?" he asked Cream. They both walked a little away from Charmy, after that. "Are you crazy?!"

"No Gemerl, my medical record says I am still sane." She answered seriously, but you could still notice a little edge on her tone.

"You know what I mean! Are you not taking care of his pill count?"

"Look, we will talk about this at home, right now we must take Charmy home." She answered before walking away. However, Charmy had walked away when they searched for him. "Gemerl, track Charmy immediately and no clever commentaries please." She told him, imagining that he already had ten snarky remarks to give her. Gemerl could pin point the location of Charmie, thanks to a tracker they put in him.

"You won't like the answer." Gemerl said.

Charmy had moved himself to the graveyard. A fast fly there and they noticed him. There he was talking and standing still in front of a pair of graves. Cream made a face of repulsion. The two gravestones standing in front of Charmie were the ones belonging to Espio and Vector.

Indeed, while Charmy insisted that he could still see his two older partners, in reality, they were both dead. To protect himself, his mind convinced him that his two father figures were still alive, that they were still always with him. Still taking care of him, still sharing with him. His medicine was to stop this hallucinations.

The weird thing was that he was here in the graveyard, in front of their gravestones, while still believing that they were present. Cream moved closer to him, not sure what could possibly be going on in his head.

"Charmy?"She asked, carefully choosing her next words.

"Yeah?" He answered, sounding perfectly normal.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason." During the whole conversation, the bee didn't turn around, Cream having to say words at his back. "It is time to leave."

"I don't want yet." He answered.

"But Charmy…" She said as she put her hand on his shoulder. It was then that he turned around. Cream gasped. Charmy had streams of water falling down his cheeks, but his expression still looked cheerful.

"WAAAH!" He shouted to what Cream only stepped back in horror. He then burst into a laughter. "You should have seen your expression. It looked like you saw a ghost." He pointed out. Even if he sounded happy, the tears just kept flowing, he just kept crying. "What is the matter Cream, it was just a little joke." He said. "It was just a joke." He repeated, and repeated, and repeated, his face looked like it was trying to change his happy expression, but he couldn't, it looked painful how his mouth strangely shook and contorted. Finally, he lost consciousness and was caught by Gemerl before hitting the ground. His hand had a syringe at the tip of his fingers, thanks to them, he was able to administrate a sedative.

"There! Problem solve." He said. "What were you thinking when you didn't remind him to take his medicine?! All this would have been avoided" The bot shouted.

"Because if I was able to talk to see or listen to my mother again I would choose to do it in a heartbeat!" She explained. Gemerl took a step back, opting to just carry Charmy and remaining silent for the rest of the night.

 _Back to the present_

"Espio… and Vector too…"

"Died protecting innocent people. Charmy… is trying to cope with the idea. It is not easy."

"I didn't knew either much, they were closer to Jet and Storm. But I knew they liked them and didn't seem so bad."

"I must admit I didn't either. But that didn't make the impact any lesser."

"But that means everyone else is fine, right?" She said with hope in her tone

"They are alive if that's what you mean."

"… Please, don't tell me Sonic suddenly became another Shadow." She joked.

Tails actually laughed at her joke. After a few giggles, he sighed happily. "Don't worry about that. It is impossible for Sonic to not being a happy-go-lucky idiot."

"What is he doing now?"


	9. The more things changes part 2

_Yesterday_

When looking up to the sky, it was impossible not to notice the three blue and orange ships floating in the sky, cutting through the clouds with no apparent force capable of opposing them. For some odd reason, these had eyes and were fish-shaped, like giant flying whales and sword fishes made of metal. No one could really understand Eggmam's brain, not even if they tried: brilliant but completely nuts. On its commanding bridge, the Heavy Gunner led the charge, observing on the screens in front of him, prepared for any contingency. In about an hour, the ships would be above a populated city. Even if Sonic dared to appear and destroy the fleet, the debris would fall on the people and cause too much damage.

It is only a matter of time.* He thought to himself. Suddenly, a large explosion appeared on the ship to his left, the explosion continued in a span of three seconds each and not long after, the ship could not sustain flight anymore. Watching the pieces fall, the robot started feeling panic growing inside him.

"Sir, one of the ships has been taken down and we are unsure of the how. Should we turn back?" A helper robot asked him.

"No! We keep moving forward full speed ahead. Find exactly what took the ship down so we can get rid of it!" The Heavy shouted. Suddenly, a shock wave was felt in the room. On one of the monitors, a giant fire was burning at the tip of the ship the Heavy was.

"Look, there is Sonic. On the tip of our ship." Another robot said.

"What!?" The Heavy shouted and looked at the corresponding screen.

Coming from the fire, carrying the metal briefcase on his left arm, wearing a lightning blue hoodie with a white lightining drawing on the back, and a pair of white sport shorts, Sonic the hedgehog walked slowly toward them, as if he owned the place. An important difference was his face, as a few wrinkles showed on his face, making him look like he was in his mid-thirties rather than his mid-twenties. He lifted his free hand and waved it at them. "Hey people. What's the matter? You don't have any welcome reception prepared for me? Come on guys, I had higher expectations." He said without a care in the world.

"Sir, I think he is mocking us." The bot said.

The Heavy Gunner only looked at it with disbelief. "Shot him with everything we have! Send every robot we have! Prepared every missile! Summon the dead, I don't care, just destroy that hedgehog once and for all!" He shouted in absolute fear.

On cue, hundreds of robots emerged from the ship, all with the single objective of getting Sonic, every turret and gun on the surface of the machine started pointing at him, every missile silo was being prepared to hit him.

"That more like it." The hedgehog thought out loud, starting to run. As the rain of bullets and missile started, he threw the briefcase which turned into his faithful Blue Star and rode it. Several of the missiles landed, a cloud of smoke surrounded him. When the hedgehog reemerged, he was in his ball form while moving with the help of his board. He then took off, with the added speed, his spin dash let him rip through several of the machines as if they were nothing. Not missing a moment, he landed, jumped and used his homing attack on five turrets coming out from the sideways, destroying them. Continuously, his highly advanced board searched for him and put itself right on his feet as he landed from his last action.

A giant robot swing his arm at Sonic. The hedgehog, with a cocky and confident smirk, let himself go to the side, looking as if he was going to fall from the board. The board had an special mecanism that stuck to his feet so, instead, he was upside down, stuck to the extreme gear from below it. In that position, he pulled his leg out and hit the bot on its leg, causing it to crumble to the floor.

Returning to the normal position, and noticing the barrage of missiles coming toward him in every direction, he step on the gas and ran straight into a bunch of them. Doing everything in his capacity, he bent his body however he could to avoid the incoming missiles: He jumped a little, ducked, stood on one foot, even pulling a matrix style bent in the process. The avoided projectiles just turned over, also following Sonic instead of hitting themselves and exploding. *That didn't work.* Thought the blue blur.

Knowing that he had to do something different to stop the missiles, he took a steep route and jumped out of it as a ramp. When he reached the highest, he jumped away from the board and moved rapidly in circles, forming a blue tornado. His plan worked as the missiles were redirected, hitting different areas of the ship, several areas of it catching fire and some holes formed from the external pieces. Now on free fall, Sonic looked down, seeing how the blue star moved closer to him in the sky.

He stretched his arm, trying to grab his board as soon as possible. Just when he was inches away from the board, a laser came from below and blew it up, the explosion hitting the hedgehog hard. Still a little shaken by the blast, he noticed that more missiles were coming his wave as the Heavy Gunner kept blasting them from his rocket launcher while riding a motorcycle-style extreme gear. Using his drop dash, he landed on the floor with little damage and the impulse barely let him dodge the explosions around him.

The moment the Heavy knew that Sonic had outrun his last missile, the Heavy went into overdrive, throwing every possible blast at him. A few shots rapidly became hundreds. Sonic just ran as fast as his body let him, but with several coming at him, many almost hit him, causing him to trip. He was barely able to dodge any good blow when that happened. "Hey, pal. Don't take down the house just on this dance." Even in this predicament, he looked like he was having a blast, no pun intended.

"The big difference between me and Eggman is that no matter what situation we are, I will always give everything I got to destroy you! No stupid theme park, no stupid plan to take the world hostage, no idiotic idea to bring some stupid monster that will eventually betray me. My one and true objective is to destroy you, molecule by molecule if necessary! No matter what it takes. I don't care if this ship has to be destroyed for that." The Heavy Gunner shouted with a hatred that shouldn't be possible for a machine to express.

Then, very timely, an explosion was heard behind them. The robot turned around, noticing how the third and last ship was on fire, rapidly losing altitude and exploding when it finally crashed. The evil robot remained frozen for a second, a twitch in his optical receptor had formed from the sight. "Do you care if that ship is destroyed?" Sonic joked behind him, wearing a shit eating grin.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH" The round bot had finally snapped, everything looking red from his point of view. Sonic knew that he probably had taken this too far, so at the slightest movement he jumped through a hole that he had caused in the fight.

The heavy followed him inside. From the last fight, almost all of the ship was on fire, several path ways were caved in, tons of robots inside were thorn into pieces; in these circumstances, it would have been next to impossible to run here. Sonic had ran through several similar ships during his life but even he ran into dead ends more often than he liked. The robot kept following him, blasting and making the place even more difficult to traverse.

However, the plan went as expected: the ship gave up as entire pieces fell apart from it. The heavy was too big and slow, getting cut in half by the pieces of ship. Sonic, inside a good piece of the ship, felt how it was spinning in its own center. He could see how he could get out but the constant bumping made it difficult to get out. He used his spin attack when the piece was horizontal. He wasn't fast enough as he hit the ceiling and bounced back from hit. He still managed to get out, though now he had a bump on his head, a little tear appearing on his eyes. "Aaaaaauuuuuuu." He said softly.

Now, he was free falling at increasing speeds, the robot falling not that much further from him. The rage attack had just recently passed.

 _Back with Tails and Wave_

"He is still playing hero." Tails commented lightly.

"How?" Wave asked, knowing that vigilantes or heroes were not really being tolerated anymore.

"He is working as a personal bodyguard. As long as his client is in the nearby area, he can stop whatever is causing problems."

"Who would hire Sonic as a bodyguard?"

 _Back with Sonic_

The robot knew his body was done for, but watching his enemy falling to his demise put him at peace of mind. "The legendary Sonic the Hedgehog… YES, I DESTROYED SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. THERE IS SIMPLY NO WAY YOU CAN ESC-" The Heavy roared in happiness, believing that he had actually beaten him. Then, he noticed how his opponent just laid back, closed both eyes. He then put an arm behind his head and the other extended. With exception on the last arm, it looked like the hedgehog was putting himself comfortable, almost like ready to take a nap or something. "What are you doing?" The robot asked dumbfounded.

"Putting myself comfortable." He commented lightly.

"So you can die comfortable? You care more about being comfortable than your timely demise?!" He couldn't believe what the blue blur was suggesting.

"Look pal, I have already fallen from the stratosphere and survived. This won't kill me."

"… You are bluffing." The robot couldn't believe him. He can't permit the idea that everything he did was useless.

"I am not."

"Then why do you have your arm like that?"

"Because I don't like repeating the same stunt I did before."

"The heck are you talking about…" Before he could end his sentence, the hedgehog suddenly came to a stop, as he himself saw the distance between them increase. "Fuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkk…." The insult was heard, getting more and more distance rapidly.

Sonic looked as if he was held by the arm, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of an engine. Suddenly, Amy slowly materialized, going from invisible to her typical colors. It was clear now that Amy and her extreme gear had caught Sonics arm as he fell.

The girl was wearing similar clothes to her racing gear, with minor differences: the pink color was a bit softer and her shirt had long sleeves. Aside from that, she had let her head quills grow, falling a little below her shoulders and, on her right arm, instead of a gold ring on her wrist was an ancient looking grey bracelet with a green orb.

"So, how are you hanging?" She said, unable to stop the pun. She was hanging too much with Sonic, but then again, that's what she loved the most.

"Have being better." He said slowly and straining, like he was in pain.

"What?! Is something wrong?!"Amy asked, worried about his wellbeing.

"You dislocated my arm." Sonic said.

"… Oh." She said softly before putting him on her board. "Sorry."

"Don't worry." Sonic said. Amy then put his bones back on its supposed place. Sonic grunted out of pain for a moment but it wasn't anything he couldn't stand. "I am used of you doing more damage than most of Eggmans plans." He quipped.

"Hey!" She shouted a bit offended by his comment.

"Let's get home, shall we?"

"…What happened to the board?" She asked calmly thought Sonic opened his eyes a lot and looked a bit nervous.

"I… I lost it." He said apologetic.

Amy also froze in place. The last time this had happened, Tails caught Sonic in his sleep, put him some slow down shoes that did not let him develop speed and put him on a tiny island in the Sol dimension, just for destroying the last board he build for him. "…We better get him something to soften the blow."

 _Back with Tails and Wave._

"Seriously, Sonic is tolerating Amy in a journey through the world?! As her bodyguard?!" Wave wasn't so sure to believe that.

"You make it believe as if they can't stand each other."

"Sonic kept dodging her like the plague when they raced."

"Huh. I guess it looks that way from an outsider's perspective." He thought out loud, putting a hand on his chin. "Yeah, Sonic hated her constant attempts to make him marry her. But they had also worked together on numerous occasions. They are closer than you think."

"And what is Amy employing Sonic for?"

"Academic studies on ancient structures and relics. Specialized in mysticism and ethereal forces."

Wave stopped for a moment before starting to laugh. Tails let her process that at her own speeds. "Come on, it is Amy. The crazy fangirl. She can't be some kind of expert explorer. Plus, ethereal forces and mysticism? That's magic, fairies and all that bullshit." She said.

"Says the girl with literal aladdins and genies on her family tree."

"The carpet was science. It is design as a predecessor of the extreme gear, made with the same materials and properties. It can be explained."

"Lets agree that we disagree." Tails answered, knowing that if he starts a discussion like this with Wave, they might go on until tomorrows night. "What you might not know is that Amy is extremely talented in tarot reading."

"Tarot reading? Seriously?" Wave said with a snicker.

"Hey, that girl could track Sonic in outer space with those things. Yes, it sounds absolutely ridiculous to me too but she somehow does." He admitted.

"Like me and certain little bunny with power over machines." She sighed, remembering seeing Cream sweet talking to robots and even machines with no physical shape obey her.

"Kinda like that. In one of our journeys we met with professor Pickle…"

"A leading expert in ancient history. I bet that girl just got there thanks to nepotism." She interrupted.

"As I was saying, we left Amy with the professor so they could help us deal with that problem."

"More like you wanted her out of the way." Wave accused.

"… Okay, you are not entirely wrong." Tails admitted. "The thing is, Amy never lost contact with the professor and actually helped him in some expeditions. He took her under his wing, so to speak."

"That suddenly makes her an expert in this kind of stuff?" She said with disbelief.

"I mentioned that she knows tarot but she also studied all kinds of ancient cultures and their magic. I know it doesn't sound like the crazy fan girl that we all know and love- or love to hate- but I am not kidding."

"And you are going to tell me that she doesn't have some kind of edge or cheat over other people?" Wave challenged.

"She does have a bit of an edge." Tails admitted.

 _Earlier today_

The duo of hedgehogs shared a motorhome, a simple white vehicle that had an expandable roof, generating enough space for small second floor. Sonic was not fond of the car: He was a free spirit, not enjoying closed places that much, preferring to sleep in trees, parks and places like that. However, on the last few years, he usually found himself waking up sore of the back, tired and sometimes, the people that found him asleep were not kind, not wanting to get into details. Hey, he might be the fastest thing on his feet but he sleeps like a rock after a good fight like anyone else. Plus, the motorhome protected him from rainy nights which were usually a bitch when he was sleeping so, compromises were made.

Amy left the motorhome, in front of her, a giant stone structure rose, several pillars rose in front of it, darkness filled its inside from her perspective. However, that wasn't her objective. Surrounding the structure, she soon found a giant stone a little further, presenting itself in between some plants. It didn't had any mark or sign of it being special, however, Amy knew it was unnatural. Lifting her arm with the green orb bracelet, said ball lit up. On the stone, green marks appeared, some kind of letters in a forgotten language. Then the stone opened slowly, cutting itself cleanly from the middle in a vertical line, producing a loud dragging sound. Soon, a blue circle could be seen where the stone once stood full, having a mystic like aura emanating from it. "Sonic, it is time to leave!" Amy shouted, the male hedgehog appeared a few moments later.

"What are we waiting?" Sonic commented.

"I was waiting you, you slowpoke." She quipped.

"Hey!" Sonic whined.

Then they steeped on the circle. In a quick flash of blinding light, they disappeared, followed by the stone who went back to its original position. On the hedgehogs' side, they were in a cavern area, an area completely on the dark with the exception of a thin pathway seemingly made of green light ahead of them. Without much further ado, they started walking.

"You know, I always feel like we will unleash some crazy monster when we walk these ruins." Sonic commented lightly, putting both his hands in the back of his head.

"I know what you mean." Amy replied. "It feels like something Eggman would do rather than us. Or the Babylon Rogues." She added.

A few good minutes passed but nothing appeared in front of them. "Somethings wrong." Amy said. Both of them looked back to the entrance, realizing that it didn't look like it had moved at all considering how much they had walked. While having walked for a few minutes, they had not advanced that much.

"Seems like the fun is about to start." Sonic said with a smile.

Amy then closed her eyes and put her left hand on the green orb, looking like she was concentrating. Her lips made some movement but no audible sound came. About a second later, the green orb shone intensively, a new road appearing down her way, with the shape of a flight of stairs, about half a meter wide each step. That wasn't the only thing that appeared however: a few lights of purplish tone appeared above them. In the void they were, it looked like they were watching a starry night. Sadly, its beauty was treacherous as they let go a little stronger light before shooting an energy ball at them.

The first ball was shot toward the pink hedgehog. As an answer, the girl took a jump back, behind her Sonic was expecting her, landing precisely on his arms. Then, he started running down the materializing stairs, as the pink girl made her hammer appear. The star looking things kept shooting at them, the blue blur doing its best to keep both of them safe.

Amy kept her eyes closed, still murmuring inaudible stuff. Sonic keep doing his best to dodge, but in his concentration he accidentally put a foot of the stairs, causing both of them to fall of the road. "Craaaaaap." He shouted.

Amy, who was caught in her own thing, was brought back to reality, needing a second or two to understand the situation. Luckily, she noticed that they were not that far away from the stairs. She stretched her arm, her hammer at hand. Using the head of the hammer, she stopped their fall, the hammer had stuck on a pair of stairs, the gravity made them move in an arc, moving them back to the stairs. The moment he landed, he started running again.

"Sonic, focus so I can focus too." Amy complained.

"The moment you start carrying the team you will have the right to complain. Pun totally intended!" He joked while Amy returned to her soft talking. Soon, her hammer had a green aura surrounding it. Soon, the stairs ended, leading to another thin pathway, the hedgehog only moving forward now.

"Put me down." She said. Sonic obeyed. Timing her movements, she used her hammer to hit the energy coming at her and rebound the blasts. The energy balls hit the source, exploding and disappearing. "What was that about carrying the team?" She commented, cattily, while checking her free hand.

However, not all the stars had disappeared; the last remaining three aligned themselves, putting themselves like an isosceles triangle. Soon, they shone again at the same time, this time a large continuous laser came from them. Amy tried to block it but she was being pushed back, a trail of dirt appeared. She tried to remain strong but her arms and legs burned; an uncontrollable shake presented and if she could not able to stop herself, she would also fall to the nothingness below.

Luckily, Sonic put himself behind her, put his arms around hers and joined the struggle, managing to stop both of them. They might actually be in a serious danger, she was in pain and if she lose control, they might die but a good part of her mind was too distracted thinking *OMG!SONICJUSTPUTHISARMSAROUNDMEWHILEBEINGJUSTBEHINDME!WHYCANTTHISNEVERHAPPENANYWHERESAFE!*

"On three." Sonic ordered, the shaking continued. "One."

"T-twooo." She said, a little higher than normal, sounding as if she was ashamed.

"Three!" They shouted at the same time, pulling the hammer with all their might at the same time. Finally, they were able to deflect the last blast. The lights were destroyed when the light was sent back. Sonic let go of himself falling to the back while Amy used her hammer as support, both needing a moment to catch their breaths.

"Ok,(Breath,breath) now you can carry team. (Breath)" She said.

He gave her a deadpan look. "I don't (Breath) think so." Sonic answered.

When the breathing normalized, they continued their trek. It was not that far anymore as the on the horizon a stone structure rose, four stone pillars rose in front of a small altar, green light emanating from some kind of green fire torches. However, the altar looked damaged, a giant crack ran diagonally. However, it was an easy fix. When Amy was close enough to it, she once again raised her orb bracelet, the light emanating from it fell on the altar.

Soon, from its lowest part to the highest, the damage slowly disappeared, leaving little sparkles after getting fixed. Soon, no apparent mark was left on it, good as new. After that, the rest of the altar shone, a blue light this time drowned the green lights. However, just as soon as it came it disappeared, the green taking back its place.

"Another one folks." The male hedgehog quiped. Suddenly, Amy fell to the floor, apparently too tired from the last effort. "Amy!" Sonic shouted, showing concern for her hedgehog partner.

Amy remained on the floor for a while, having fallen to her right side. Sonic inspected her for a little while, the idea that something was weird simply would not leave. He crouched, only centimeters away from her body… and he put his hands at the side of the stomach and pushed and shouted. "WAKE UP!"

"Waaaah." Amy didn't saw this outcome coming, surprised by his shouting. What she saw was a blue hedgehog, giving her a tired and disappointed look.

"Amy, I am not going to carry you just because you want me to carry you."

"Sorry. Couldn't help myself." She said with her hand at the back of her neck in an apologetic manner.

"Sorry it didn't work." A third voice could be heard at her side. Amy looked at her side, a white figure had appeared out of nowhere. even if it looked like it was made of light, she could still notice its shape: some kind of small anthro with big ears, fluffy ball shaped tail, a little hair on top of his head and between its ears and some sort of small fairy style wings.

"It is ok, Chip." Amy commented. "Where next little guy?" She asked.

"Noresgath. Lots of cold water, ice and sunken ships. At least thats what I saw."

Amy let go a little whine. "Why it can't be a beautiful tropical island where we can also enjoy the sea."

"Amy, focus. What is Chip saying?" Sonic said. he knew that Chip was here with them, but he couldn't hear him or see him. As far as he knew, nobody could, except of Amy, using the bracelet that Chip left behind when he returned to the earth. And he needed help fixing something.

"Sorry. Please continue." Amy said.

"We will need something to go underwater. It is a recovery mission, not just to repair the altar. Very deep into the water. That's, actually all I can consciously tell." And with that, Chip light vanished as white dust.

"…. You wont like where we are going. To make it worst, we need to see Tails." Amy said.

"…. Oh shit." Was all Sonic could said, his pupils getting to the size of tiny points.

 _Back with Tails and Wave_

The two exchanged looks, the bird girl expectant for an answer. "And?" Wave finally asked after half a minute.

"What?" Tails answered, not understanding.

"What is the edge?" She said in a more demanding way.

"I am not telling you." He answered as if it was obvious.

Wave squinted her eyes at his answer, part of her mind also thinking that she should have seen it coming. "Guess I am not getting more out of you about them." She admitted. She then gave it some thought about who still remained: She met Shadow, who talked her about Rouge (who he didn't know where she was exactly); She met Tails, who didn't let her much choice in that regard; He already talked about the Chaotix, Cream and now Sonic and Amy. Who was left? "What about Knuckles?"

Tails let go of some air from his nose. "He has been very busy."

 _Somewhere else._

 _Sonic ran as fast as he could, feeling urgency, as if something bad was going to happen if he wasn´t fast enough. His legs burned, feeling like needles were pushed through his legs, begging him to stop. But his mind was stronger and kept telling him, *do not slow down*._

 _*Whooooosh* A distinct sound was heard, something fast passed him with ease. When Sonic looked at what had just passed him. What he found, was a normal looking man riding a board type extreme gear. The man then looked back at him, his eyes full with arrogance. "What a joke." He spat._

 _*Whooooosh* was heard again while something passed the hedgehog. Again, a woman with a rollerblade style extreme gear. The process repeated, but with different words. "The fastest thing alive, my ass."_

 _*Whooosh* This time a little kid with a board type. "What a loser." *Whoooosh* An old man with a moto type. "A creature bested by a machine, yet again." *Whooosh* a cat with scooter looking board "You are too slow." *Whooooosh* a freaking snail with board type extreme gear. "Your time is up old geezer."_

 _*Whooosh* *Whooosh* *Whooosh* *Whooosh* *Whooosh* The sound of the machines kept surrounding him, soon hundreds upon hundreds of different people, of all sizes, sexes and species, kept passing by him, the spat of insults had simplified into a unending laughter. Sonic put his hands on his ears, hoping to drown the noise but it kept penetrating, feeling like the worst screech you have ever heard in your life._

" _Just stop!" Sonic had to stop himself, it being too much to tolerate. However, the moment he shouted, he realized that they were no longer there._

" _Sonic." He heard behind him. Tails, Amy, Rouge, Knuckles, Silver, Blaze, everyone really that he considered at least an ally was there looking at him. However, behind him, a shadowy figure rose, much bigger than any of his friends. The only thing identifiable from the figure was the light being reflected from its lens and a white wicked grin that he knew all to well._

" _Egggman!" Sonic shouted. For whatever reason his friends seemed oblivious to him, looking like they were going to be taken by surprise. He immediately thought about how Eggman just wrecked the world on his last plan. *But this time you won't get…* He was thinking when, suddenly, the floor below him crumbled, the hedgehog falling pray of the gravity. "Nooooooo." He shouted at the top of his lungs._

 _In his fall, he tried to move closer to wall of dirt, hoping to grab on to something. And he did. He thought he had caught some kind of twig coming from the wall or something, he was only happy he was alive. Soon, he started running back to up the wall. However, he found himself stopped. It was now that, while he had let go of the twig, it had grabbed him. Inspecting the supposed twig, he realized that it was actually an arm, an arm literally coming from the wall._

 _Soon, a body came from the wall, the arm still not letting go of the blue hedgehog. The creature emerging was a black hedgehog capable of flight, identical to Sonic super form in shape, but with a sinister look, a dark aura surrounding it. He let go of a sinister snicker. "It is time to have fun."_

 _Pain started on the hedgehog hand, some kind of dark ethereal fire coming from the dark hedgehog and was climbing his way toward Sonic, the blue color on his quills faded in to black for a second and back to blue, intermittent, but the black color was taking over. Even if he was twisting with sheer agony for the pain, Sonic was still able to kick the evil faker, actually managing to break free from his grapple. He was still able to run up a good part of the wall, with apparently little difficult. "You cannot escape me." The dark hedgehog said calmly, like he knew more than him._

 _Sonic didn't pay him attention, continuing his way up. However, he was caught again, this time by a purple version of himself, with two large white streaks running over his forehead and up and the lack of pupils. This new opponent put himself directly in front of Sonic. The hero couldn't stop himself, so he crashed against him. Darkspine Sonic also had the ability to fly so he made sure that either of them would fall. "Whats the matter? You suddenly became a huge coward?" It challenged, followed by a bear hug to Sonic._

 _The process repeated: the new evil Sonic form was trying to stick to the good one, constantly intermittent, now with a different suffering as the bad hedgehog exerted enough strength that Sonics back was cracking from his strength. Letting of a cry of pain, the hedgehog then used his head to hit his opponents. Dark spine let go of the hug, but still had him grabbed on the arm._

 _Sonic used this on his favor, starting to run around him. Since his opponent would not let him go just like that, he was able to build enough speed. Then, in the correct moment, he throw a punch at his grabber, making him lose the grip, Sonic going up at incredible speeds, finally making it out of the hole. The plan went a little too well as he was shot much further into the sky than he expected._

 _*Nothing a fast homing attack wont fix.* He thought, already preparing himself to push forward. It was then that something fell on him, stopping his last move and made him fall faster to the ground. Whatever it was, he could only tell one thing about it: it was very, very hairy and fluffy._

 _*Booooom.* Soon, Sonic reached the floor again, crashing, unable to shake off what was holding him. The animal that had made him crash lifted itself off him, below him, Sonic was stuck to the earth, leaving a crater of the same shape as him. The animal pulled him out of there, its large, fluffy, clawed arms pulled him out with no effort. "Falling from so low hurt you? I thought you could fall from the stratosphere and walk away like it was nothing." The animal talked, in faint surprise and sarcasm._

 _Every part of Sonic´s body was in agony, the very idea of looking his captor to the eyes brought more pain. The werehog was what he found. And again, some kind of dark energy climbed up his body, mutating him into the werehog. Sonic threw a kick to his face, which permitted him to land and started running away, again. However, he soon noticed that he was getting slower, until he stopped dead, even though his feet were moving as fast as he could. Looking back, he realized that he never escaped werehog grasp: werehog using his stretching powers to permit him to get some distance._

 _*….Please don't.* Sonic nearly begged. The werehog just smiled sinisterly. Using his arm like a rubber band, he jumped toward the hero, at speeds that Sonic himself couldn't avoid. When he got close enough to Sonic, he crashed on Sonics feet using its own, the spikes on the werehog´s shoes skewered Sonic´s feet._

 _The most horrifying shout of agony came from Sonics lungs, feeling how his feet were just destroyed a second ago, while the werehog still hold him, the transformation still going on. Suddenly, for whatever reason, the beast moved away, letting go of Sonic._

 _That was it, with unimaginable pain, his feet unable to do anything, Sonic wanted to lay down, to rest, to not do anything for a good while. But that wasn't a possibility. For whatever, reason, he rose his head, his eyes catching Tails, just a few feet away from him, the thought that he might still need him soon took over._

 _Using just his arms, he dragged his body, moving closer to the fox. His feet were killing him, feeling the need to take off the shoes without using his hands. Just as he expected, his now naked feet had several holes in them, thanks to the spiked shoes and bleeding, much more than it should be possible. He was confident he had also shattered the bones. *Don't look behind.* Sonic thought, only looking forward._

 _Soon, he reached his little brother. He extended his arm, reaching to his feet. And then, everything went wrong._

 _With the bare touch of Sonics hand, Tails body went forward, inclining forward, his head falling from his shoulders, landing on Sonic´s limping body. The rest of the body went to the floor. Sonic froze for a second, watching Tails head, its horrified expression of terror, accompanied with its blank dead eyes, a little of blood covering it. But the nightmare wasn't over._

 _A little further, his eyes caught that the rest of his friends were also dead: Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, The Chaotix, all of them were piled together, all with blood all over them and with the same dead eyes."No." Sonic whispered, he was overwhelmed. He had failed them again, but this time, the consequences were much worse._

 _And then, the icing on the cake, the three evil Sonics crashed on him, all piling on him, all entering in contact with him, but this time he couldn't fight back until it was too late._

 _With a powerful push, he sent the three of them flying, the transformation finally completed: he had the size, the fur, the strength of the werehog, complete with spiked shoes; two white strokes appeared above his now completely white eyes, an orange-ish aura appearing at the edge of his body; his complete body was completely black, floating thanks to the dark hedgehog dark power._

" _GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH" it roared, a vicious monster now on the loose. Sonic´s consciousness, however, was still fully aware inside of it of what was going on. Watching from inside the beast, unable to do anything to affect the outside, the monster flew at incredible speeds, moving itself toward what Sonic could guess was an Eggman base. There, he met the expected resistance of eggbots, some that he decimated with little thought._

 _But Sonic noticed something terrible: each time it destroyed a robot, a pool of blood formed. He could not prove it but he didn't need to: Eggman was fueling his robots the old way, using innocent creatures as a power source. Sonic was killing innocent beings._

" _Noooo." He whispered. "Stooooop." He half shouted. "Stoooooop!" he continued, but it was fruitless, the beast kept slaughtering, and he didn't have the strength or the will to continue fighting._

Baaaaaaam* Sonic felt his head throbbing; some kind of thing had hit his head, breaking him from his sleep. Now, while petting his head, he saw that Amy was at his side, hammer at hand, looking ragged and breathless. He was back at the motorhome. He also noticed his body: it was full of bruises and scars, but these were originated by his assault on the Heavy Gunner ship, not by anything more insane.

"OMG, Sonic! Are you allright? You were moving like crazy and you looked at pain and straining. What is going on?" Amy was shouting, a bit neurotic, sick worried for his partner.

Sonic however, only had one thing to say: "Did I shout?" Sonic asked her. Amy shouts stopped, shame and a blush took over. Sonic already knew what happened. "You were already here watching me sleep, didn't ya?" he asked, with crossed arms and squinted, accusing eyes.

"I am sorry. I know I promised that I wouldn't watch you in your sleep like this again. But many nights when I try to sleep…" She half shouted, but the next part was told like in a whisper. "… I see Infinite, destroying you again." Amy admitted, looking below, her hands grabbing her hammer harder.

Sonic opened his eyes a lot. He rarely thought about how people reacted to his dead and how they coped with it. He knew things had gone to hell while he was gone. When he returned, he watched everyone's eyes filled with hope, aware that previously were only full of despair and suffering. He couldn't think about them back then. But a thought slipped his mind: how many times had he just disappeared, not telling anyone where he went? Not only before the whole thing, but even after it: how many times the people that loved him thought that somehing bad happened to him again? How many times they thought that was the last time they would see him?

He sighed, suddenly feeling guilty and that he needed to make up to her in some way. "Wanna sleep here with me tonight?" Sonic asked, a warm smile on his face.

Amy raised her head, her eyes filled with light, betraying disbelief and happiness. "I will go change into my pijamas." She shouted while running away.

A few minutes later, she was finally sleeping with Sonic for the first time… kinda. They brought an extra mattress where Sonic was sleeping while sleep on his bed. Not how she expected to sleep with Sonic, but at least, if either woke up from a nightmare, just looking at their partner at their side was enough to pacify their fears.

* * *

You know, I think this is the first time I earned the M rate that this fic is supposed to deserve. Anyway, I like how this one turned out. So next time, we get what Knuckles have been doing these years.

Do you think I should be more descriptive about character, things and such? I mean, the point of fanfiction is that you find stories about characters you want so I expect some knowledge of the series, but what if the reader haven't play a lot of games of that series? The riders series in particular has a following but can I see plenty of fans ignoring it for being a racing game. Maybe a friend recommended it to someone who knows nothing about Sonic or decided to read it because it liked the title and resume. (I am guilty if the last two for example).

I also wanted to thank my reviewers: AStoryTellerBook, Tailsrulesandthegirlsdrool, DaddlerTheDalek, ExMarkSpot, shadrougeforever, even ultimateCCC who most of his reviews made me feel a little uncomfortable. A new review is invigorating, makes one want to continue and give more, be faster and better. So I thank you all for taking a bit of your day to read and leave a comment, no matter how short it is.


	10. The more things changes part 3

_Earlier that day_

"The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power… Power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos." A small group of echidnas chanted around the master emerald, the majority were young people, teens to be specific. They were sitting on the floor, their hands extended toward the big gem. They were all in the Hidden Palace Zone shrine, surrounding the Master Emerald.

All the echidnas had some clothing in common: they all had black knee tall boots that ended in a silver, circular knee protector; the boot also had a vertical line in the middle, shining in green color and going from the tip of the boot until the knee protector; they also wore gloves with metal silver bracelets; finally, they all wore a golden necklace, made by smaller squares ending with a slightly larger hexagon with a blue circular gem in the center, just a little below their neck. They also had white bands painted on their dreadlock/spines. The final thing that they had in common was that all had two spikes coming from their knuckles.

Aside from that, their clothes were different but also more normal, with the exception of the leader of the pack.

Knuckles was wearing a loose garment, some kind of large cloak that covered his whole body, exposing only his arms. The cloak was a grass green with red diamonds spilled through it. He was also wearing a hat, a cowboy style hat with some circles with stars on it. Finally, the biggest change in Knuckles, aside from some minor wrinkles, was the fact that he had lost an eye, being replaced by a mechanical sphere with a tiny horizontal line with a purple color, the same color of his healthy eye.

Knuckles mecha eye observed at the students as the other eye was closed. Part of him still couldn't believe that, after so many years of being alone on the island, he was now teaching a new generation of Echidna to take up his role when the time was right. It was a job that he took great pride in doing, even if it had given him hell of troubles in the past. The thing was that most of these kids didn't care about it at all.

Most of them looked bored beyond themselves and tired, one of them in particular had fallen asleep, still sit down though. A vein on his forehead had appeared, but all he did was let go of a sigh.

"Ok, kids. That's enough for today. You guys can go home." Knuckles said, dismissing all the kids. Cheers and woohoos were heard immediately as they took their routes to their zones. It was a secret, but all the existing zones in the Angel Island had routes for quick access to the Hidden Palace. All but two kids remained. An orange-ish pair of a boy and a girl, one of them the fast as sleep student.

The girl went to his side, watching his brother sleep, probably to wake him up. So, she gave him a good shove, his torso going down. A loud *thud* was heard when his head hit the floor. That woke him up fully. "That hurt." He said, looking up at her sister. She was laughing at him. "You think this is funny?"

"A lot." She said while smiling slyly.

"Oh, I will show you funny!" he shouted, throwing at her, starting a pointless fight.

"TWINS!" Knuckles shouted. The kids had stopped just ready to punch each other on the face, the girl over the kid. They separated with a meter of distance, the girl pulled a bit of flesh from below her eye while the boy made a face and pulled his tongue. "Dazzle, you can leave. Razzle is the only one in problem." He said. The girl pulled out her tongue at him. He soon answered in the same way. "Razzle, you fell asleep, again, in the middle of training. It is the third time this month. What do you have to say to defend yourself?"

"Training is boring. I will take anything more interesting over that." He said, trying to sound cool and confident.

"Anything?" Knuckles asked, a wicked smile appeared on his face. The kid actually looked a little intimidated by the leader.

"And that people, is how you dig your own grave." Dazzle joked. Razzle started glaring daggers at her.

"Razzle, I need you to put your armour." Knuckles ordered. Now both kids were looking concerned: if Knuckles said that meant anything they were going to do was a serious matter.

"Sir, you can't go and kill my brother. That will get **me** killed at home." Dazzle admitted.

"Not everything is about you." Razzle answered.

"I understand your concern. I will take care of the kid. Unless he thinks this is too much for him." Knuckles said in a way that Razzle would simply not resist.

"What. Are. We. Waiting. For?"

 _Just a few minutes later_

Razzle wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was wearing the full armour as Knuckles advised, a black skin tight suit covering all his body, accompanied by a black mask with muzzle piece and a head piece that made him look more like an armadillo rather than an echidna. It was identical to Nocturne Velite armour, with the exception that the blue light symbols and eyes were green. At his side, Knuckles was still wearing the same stuff, except the hat.

The duo was in the lava reef zone, which in reality translated that they were inside the volcano of Angel Island. Inside of it, there were plenty of rock resistant to the hot magma where they were now standing.

"So, what now, old man?" Razzle said, not showing how affected he was by the extreme heat.

"We are going to take the panoramic route: We climb our way up from the walls of the Red Mountain. I will give you a head start kiddo. Get as high as you can as fast as possible." Knuckles ordered.

"That's all? Just a little race against you? Then this is gonna be a piece of cake." The kid commented.

"We will see about that." Knuckles commented with secrecy.

He jumped straight to the wall and introduced his fist into the wall. The moment he made contact he felt a nasty burn accompanied with a *hiss* sound. He winced inside his armour, the burn was nasty but his equipment should make sure that he wouldn´t get a single scar from the situation. He started climbing, although taking his time, ignoring Knuckles´ advice. If this was only a race, then there shouldn't be much trouble: Knuckles was a much faster echidna but with the head start and the armour, he should be able to beat the old man.

Knuckles counted to ten in his mind. Then, from the robe, he pulled an orb, with some red dust inside it. He let go of it, falling on the burning lava. The magma, which so far looked relatively calm, started bubbling, the bubbles expanded wherever there was magma. He jumped away. Then, a massive shake was felt through the entire island, Razzle lost his footing and his fist almost detach from the wall because of it.

"What the-." The young echidna said, looking down, and watching a pillar of magma rising from the center toward him. "Waaaah." He shouted and moved a little to the side, barely able to avoid the magma. A few drops fell on his armour, starting to panic as the hissing sound came. He started moving to his right, trying to avoid that pillar of magma and didn't notice the other pillar of lava that barely missed him. He let go another shout of panic when it was unavoidable to spot it.

"Stop going to the sides, kiddo!" Knuckles shouted to him a little below him. "And stop looking down!" Knuckles ordered him and he obeyed, a little too fast. "Don't see below to avoid. Close your eyes and feel the shakes on your hands and let that guide you!" Knuckles said while closing his eyes, preparing to do the same.

Razzle then closed his eyes, following his teacher indication. They both continued to climb, this time, the advice given by Knuckles really made the difference. Before long, the mouth of the volcano was not that much further from them. However, they felt to large lava blast coming to their sides and one last coming to their direction, making it unavoidable without detaching from the wall.

"Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Ohcrap. Ohcrap. Ohcrap. Ohcrap" Razzle was panicking beyond himself. Knuckles could just jump from the wall and glide to a safe spot, but he doubted that Razzle would follow him, not because he couldn't, but he was too freaked out to do so.

Knuckles, with a clear plan in mind, punched the rock wall, in a manner that the rock separated from the wall. The crack expanded large enough to reach the kid echidna. With one hand, he pulled the giant stone from the wall, the kid still stuck to it, while the other fist prevented them from falling pray of gravity. "Are you crazy old man?!" Razzle shouted.

Knuckles waited for a moment, then jumped from the wall and put the rock below his foot, the same side that Razzle was stuck. A second after they started descending, they stopped and started going upward, thanks to the magma they were going up. Not long after, they had finally escaped the volcano, landing on some not so steep side of the Red Mountain. And poor Razzle kept shouting like a little girl the whole time. Soon, the two echidnas landed, Razzle still shouting and not realizing that things had calmed down.

"Geez, kid. It is over." Knuckles said, trying to calm down the boy.

Razzle stopped and looked around, realizing that they were no longer in any sign of danger. A bit of a blush appeared. "That was… OK." He said, trying to will away the blush.

"Then, what do you suggest? Another go?" Knuckles suggested with a smile.

"NOOOO." The kid shouted, a little too loud and too soon. "Doing it twice in a day would be boring and…"

"Kid, I saw you shouting at the top of your lungs on the whole ride. You got nothing to hide me." Knuckles interrupted, looking him with tired eyes.

"What are you talking about?" He said. Knuckles then gave him a little push. His legs gave up instantly, sitting down. He looked up at Knuckles, the latter with an I-told-you-so look. "Q-quit old man." He said, even more ashamed.

Knuckles just let go of himself, falling on his back. The two spent a minute not telling anything one another. The older echidna was the first to break the silence. "So, why do you need to prove everyone how cool you are?"

"That´s none of your business."

*The teenager answer.* Knuckles thought. "OK, how about the whole Guardian problem? That´s much more **my** business." Knuckles said. Razzle growled.

"How do you do it, old man?" Razzle asked.

"Do what?" Knuckles asked.

"The whole Guardian thing. All we do is being around that gem occasionally and chant that repetitive thingy. It is so Chaos damn boring! And from what I heard, that was all you could do for many years since the island was empty. How are you not any more insane?! And, why did you stay here while there was so much more down there?" He half shouted. He would normally think that being so direct to him would mean problems or a punishment. He did not cared right now. Knuckles just looked at him for a little, processing his arguments. Then he burst into a laughter, surprising Razzle a lot.

Knuckles really understood the kid feelings: timeless days and nights he wondered about why he was the only one in the island, why did he had to guard the Master Emerald, why was he alone. The situation wasn't the same but these were more or less the same worries that Knuckles felt. At least until he met Eggman, Sonic and co.

He would never admit it, but he kept coming to help Sonic and Company partly because his job as a guardian got too tiresome and he just wanted to have some adventure. He was partly thankful that the Master Emerald got destroyed a few times, serving as an excuse to leave the island for a while and just explore, but it couldn't be at his complete leisure. After all, he wouldn't just forget of his duty just like that.

He was never alone after that first time since people kept coming back to cause problem. Particularly Rouge was the most insistent in that regard, coming at least monthly, but Eggman and even the other good guys frequently came to take the gem away from him. Eventually, after getting broken three times and stolen countless others… the emerald was stolen one more time, that time to power a giant Eggman Mecha and Gemerl too.

After that, from the Emerald popped both Chaos and Tikal out. The echidna girl mentioned something about how the Master Emerald was tired of the treatment that it continued to have so it got other guardians to help Knuckles. He had to admit that hurt his pride more than he thought.

But with two extra guardians, he found himself not feeling so lonely and able to get off the island whenever he wanted, really becoming a full time ally to Sonic the Hedgehog.

To his surprise and eventual dismay, he then discovered the Nocturnes, echidnas that were once rivals with the Knuckle tribe, trapped in a different dimension. After that crazy adventure and a crazy, confusing and convoluted time traveling plan, they managed to return from the dimension, that time accompanied by Shade the echidna.

"Believe me kid. It was sometimes unbearable." Knuckles admitted, a few giggles still on his voice. "But don't worry. You will get in enough trouble with the world before you even know it. It is dull, very dull at times but you will appreciate those moments when things get the hardest." He then put his hand on Razzle´s head. "Give it time." Knuckles sounded really mature, showing the experience he had amassed with time.

"Hands of the head." Razzle whined, stepping away from his reach. He wouldn't admit it, but he suddenly felt more respect for the elder. "I am going if we are done here." He said with a bit of the blush.

"We are done." Knuckles said with a smile and Razzle started going down the mountain.

Knuckles stayed up there. He observed the island from his spot: it was early evening, a little of sun was still on the horizon and the lights in the different zones of Angel Island appearing, signals of the night activity on it. The island had gone a long way from being the desolate island it once was.

From the Sky Sanctuary, the mushroom hill, marble garden and even Sandopolis zone, there were many new constructions and lights coming from them, giving the island a much cozy and warm feeling, in heavy contrast to his old life. Maybe this was the reason why he was supposed to take care of this Island and what was inside it: to have a home for his people to return to.

"You sure look comfortable. Mind if I come in?" Knuckles heard a voice coming closer. He looked behind him, a female echidna still wearing her armour. One would think that it was because she was or just came from training, but it was one known for preferring the armour as her everyday clothing.

"Shade, hi." Knuckles cheerfully waved. Shade then sat her side, observing and getting absorbed by the scenery. "It is amazing, isn't it?"

"Yes." She said, apparently with shortness of breath. Her desire, even as a Nocturne procurator was freedom and happiness for her people, being free from that mysterious prison they had. Sadly, Ix only wanted to take over the world after getting free, so Shade made the decision of separating from him and she was thankful that Knuckles would not just take his word as truth and follow him blindly like so many other Echidnas, herself included. Apparently, a rare moment from the echidna since his friends confirmed her that he was very gullible and naive. He took that the wrong way.

She soon discovered that both things were truth about Knuckles. After the experience, he wanted to give the nocturnes another chance. To set them free. Shade thought it was madness, partly because he had set free a traitor, as the Nocturnes would see her. He also wanted to risk the possibility of finding Knuckles tribe members in some other dimension, just like the Nocturnes. His faith found many difficulties, but they were able to convince some of the Nocturnes. And with Silver´s help, they managed to return to their own time.

Moreover, when they indeed found some other Knuckles tribe members, there were instant differences with the Nocturnes they saved. There were constant attempts to try to take over the whole island, constant attempts to determine a superior echidna tribe and such. Then the War with Infinite happened.

In the eyes of Infinite and Eggman, there wasn't really any distinction between the tribes: they both had to be destroyed to complete their plan: getting rid of the Master Emerald, one of the few things unaffected by the Phantom Ruby and everyone who could use the Emerald´s power. The entire island was actually unaffected thanks to it and, because of that, it was essential for everyone survival that the island worked at full potential.

Desperate times call for desperate measures: a combination of Nocturne Technology with the Chaos Control energy from the Master Emerald only controllable by the Knuckles tribe, permitting to turn the entire island into a giant flying ship, not that different from the Blue Typhoon that Tails once built. The whole island itself became the main weapon that lead the fight to Eggman, the main resistance against him.

It wasn't long before more and more people united under the echidna, all those ready to fight for their freedom. Knuckles wanted to put Shade as the Commander, thanks to her real training under Ix as a warrior and commander. But Shade convinced him to be him. Mainly because, the faith and commitment he had for the people. Passion took him further than anyone imagined.

The war was no walk in the park, but at the end of the trial, the majority of Echidnas (The remaining ones since they also had plenty of casualties) were able to put their differences behind. Many other choose a life away from the island and there are some that seem not to be good people but these things were understandable and manageable.

She was thankful to have a moment for her to contemplate how far things had reached.

"You know, I bet you would feel more comfortable if you removed that armour and wore something more comfortable." Knuckles commented. The female echidna then made a sudden movement with her arm. She was too far to hit him, but her purpose was generating wind, enough that the cloth on him was almost sent flying. Knuckles put his hand below, near his pelvis, a lot like a girl wearing a skirt trying to hide her private areas. In the moment that the wind blew, you could see that Knuckles only wore his gloves and boots "Hey!" He said slightly offended.

"I am not taking clothing advice from an echidna wearing nothing but his bed sheets." Shade said with not much emotion.

Knuckles suddenly felt ashamed. "You too with that?!" He half shouted. "Seriously, all my life I haven't have the need to put on clothes. Then suddenly some crazy chick starts saying that we should get clothing and everyone is like `Yes, that's a good idea´. Seriously?"

"Female anthros always had to wear clothing." Shade added.

"Yeah, well." Knuckles found himself speechless by her comment. She just took him by surprise.

"Are you saying that you males should receive a special treatment from everyone?"

"NO. Not at all" He shouted, feeling nervous out of nowhere.

"There is no need to shout." She said. "Why so nervous?"

"Are you turning into Rouge or what?" He blurred out without thinking. This affected Shade enough that he looked at him with surprise.

"What!?" She exclaimed offended.

It was now that Knuckles realized his mistake. *Oh shit, she is probably taking it worse since Rouge is a thief!"

Meanwhile, Shade mind went into overdrive for his comment. *Did he see through what I was doing? Of course he would, you idiot, he knows Rouge too well.*

They both started telling each other apology after apology without much thinking nor realizing that the other was not listening. It wasn't long before the voices died down, both on their side of the rock platform.

*Great Knuckles, you really don't know when to shut up. Seriously, everything was fine until you said that. Seriously, the rest are Echidnas who won't stop treating me like some kind of crazy savior, some kids that don't care that much about the things I have done and would rather just leave the island and, let's not forget, the random echidna with delusion of greatness that comes with a plan to take the Emerald to himself. She and Tikal are the only ones you can talk to but Tikal is always with Chaos and he is like a jealous guardian dog that hates you and now you make things weird with her. Great going idiot. Great going!* He thought.

*You made everything weird. He literally compared me with Rouge! He saw that you are using her advice. Tease him a little, she says. What was I thinking?! What other stuff Rouge said… Why am I even considering that?! Yes, she seemed to know what kind of things to do to get that weird connection these two have but you won't be able to get that. You are not her. Think of something else. Think of something else. Think of something else… Fuck it, I can't think of anything.* She thought.

After more moments of silence, Shade started moving closer to Knux, trying to keep looking at the horizon. Knuckles noticed it on the edge of his eye. Slowly, Shade started to bend to her side, trying to land on his shoulder. Knuckles noticed this and, when Shade let herself go at full speed, he stepped away, the girl hitting her head with the floor.

Knuckles winced a little, while Shade now has a headache. "Are you alright?" Knuckles asked.

"No." She couldn´t help the fast remark. "I thought the floor was softer in this side of the rock." She said with less anger.

"Is it any softer?" Knuckles asked with no ill will. Shade knew this, had it being anyone else, she would have hit him right on his face.

"No." She said, lifting her head and sitting down. And the awkward silence was back again. *It was stupid. Maybe I should just leave it like that.*

Out of nowhere, Knuckles asked something that the female Echidna never expected. "Do you see yourself having a family?"

Shade opened a lot her eyes, looking at Knuckles with a lot of surprise. She needed a minute to answer him. "W-What do you mean?"

"Well, I am thirty-two right now and only a few months away from my birthday. Plenty of other echidna couples I see are a bit younger than that. And they already have kids… You know, forget it." He said upset, feeling like an idiot to talk about that.

"No. I get what you mean." Shade added. "I think it all the time. I grew as a warrior, only knowing to fight and to be ready for war. I never gave it much thought but now, without a war, while we are free… I got no idea what to do, much less about that." She admitted, looking down.

Knuckles noticed this, moved closer to her and put his hand on her back. Shade moved her head to the side, meeting Knuckles eyes with hers. "I know. I was alone in this island, only with the vague memory telling me to watch over the gem. I never considered there would be so much people on here at any point. I thought I would die alone." He admitted. When he ended, he noticed how close he was to her, their warm breaths falling on the other´s face. Knuckles, awkwardly stepped away, falling on his butt. The awkwardness was back.

Shade also continued to look away, but she felt a little more… comfortable? She wasn't sure herself. "Do you think we will ever have that kind of happiness?" She asked.

"… I guess we deserve it." He thought out loud. "After all this fighting and problems, it only seems fair."

"I don't see many people wanting someone like me." She admitted. "People think I am too strict or tomboyish."

"I wouldn't have anyone else on my side beside you." Knuckles said without thinking. Shade muzzle instantly went red. And Knuckles followed her soon. "I- I don't mean. Like, I. I… In the battlefield. You are amazing in the battlefield!" He tried to fix it, rambling a bit.

For a reason she couldn't really fathom, she was furious about that comment. "So in your eyes, I am just another warrior?!" She shouted, glaring daggers at him. Shade herself couldn´t believe what she was saying but she pressed on.

Knuckles froze at her stare. He gulped. What was with females draining him of his courage? Rouge used to do it all the time, Amy sometimes and now Shade. He took a moment, trying to think his answer better. "No. Yes!" *Great start, you imbecile.* He stopped again, thinking more carefully. "Yes... you are an amazing fighter. You also are... really sneaky and... think very strategically. I mean, all I do is punch everything in my way. What you do is really something I can't do at all. Sometimes, that discipline you put the echidnas through on the toughest times made me forget about how terrible things were. And, honestly, knowing that you were there with me no matter how crazy things got or how crazy my ideas were, it was reassuring. It gave me confidence to keep going and I felt like I could always count with you. Made me have more faith in me. We wouldn´t be here, now, if you didn´t take away a lot of my doubts." The first few sentences were slow but he found himself continuing, getting more confidence and security in what he said. After some point words just left his mouth without much thinking but they felt right. By the end he was satisfied with his answer.

Shade softened her stare and opened her eyes a lot. "Th-thanks. It wasn't that much." She replied ashamed.

"It was everything at times." He admitted, lifting his hand for a moment. When he lowered it, it landed just over Shade´s, some kind of electricity flowed the moment they touched. Knuckles lifted his hand a little, to stop the contact. Her ruby eyes met with his purple, some kind of silent agreement was forged, one that both understood. At that moment, they hands joined, into one sphere, warmth filling both of their bodies.

 _Back with Wave and Tails._

"Wow, Knuckles did all that?!" Wave asked with disbelief. Tails came with a cup, handing it to Wave. She looked at the brownish substance and raised an eyebrow. "Tea? Seriously? Are we suddenly sixty years all?"

"It should help us kill our insomnia." He answered. "Yes, Knuckles, in short, reunited a good group of Echidnas from different dimensions, all actually from the ancient clans that lived on our dimension." He said, taking a sip at his cup.

"The Knuckles and the Nocturnes. But these were rival clans. How did he manage to kill years of tradition and resentment? They should have being at each other´s throats the moment they met."

"Yeah, they were at each other's throats. I was part of it from time to time and I can tell it was insane at times. Ironically, the war that decimated the rest of the world help them put all that aside. It also reduced their numbers; there is only about a hundred or so of them around.. That definitely helps too. Some even made they lives away from the island." He said. He left out the fact that only potential guardians were forced to stay in the island, for obvious reasons. "Also, you don't seem nearly as surprise as before." He pointed out

"I am getting used to the changes. I also met some Echidnas out there in the journey. They were really a pain in the ass." She admitted. She took a sip of her beverage. She let go of a growl of disgust for the drink while twisting her face. "Do you seriously drink this stuff like this?! Did you even put sugar in this?"

"Guess I am not a picky eater." He said while shrugging.

"But wait, if Knuckles travelled to other dimensions, that means that he also had to deal with time differences." She thought. "That means you also had to deal with that if you went into that Twilight thingy." She realized "But you are here fine. Well, as fine as a traumatized person can be. How did you guys do that?"

"Time traveling." He just answered.

"You say it like it is a weekly thing instead of decimating the laws of physics while trying to face against a force that really doesn´t have quantifiable matter." Wave answered. Tails looked like he was thinking hard and intensively.

"It kind of was with Eggman around." He said.

"A-ham. So how did you do it?" She asked.

*Should I be more specific? Whoever is behind watching could use the idea of sending her back to her time to cause trouble. And something convenient always happened each time we needed to time travel back to our present. Then again, if something ends up happening, we should send her back. And probably the others too. Besides, Silver wasn't always the answer. Guess something else might come up.*

"Something different happened most of the time. Sometimes, because we all end up time warping, the time difference wasn't felt, so we didn´t need to go back in time. There were that one time where these time stones just popped out of nowhere to never be hear about after that. Others, we used Chaos Control."

"That Chaos Control seems to be the ultimate Deux ex Machina."

"Tell me about it. But I think we needed Silver the Hedgehog around to be able to time travel via Chaos Control. But he is probably back in his future at this point." He said.

"You mean his dimension." Wave answered.

"… What?"

"We found him on our journey. He was at one of the dimensions we traveled. It was one filled with tons of water, like maybe 85% of the world was water and islands. There was also this crazy fire cat lady and these gems like the Chaos Emeralds we tried to steal."

"And let me guess, it went horribly wrong!" He said. Wave only looked frustrated for his comment. He then started laughing at her full force

"Quit it!"

"I- I- I can´t" He said between the fit of laughter.

*But that means Silver didn't return to the future. Also, unlike any other dimension, the Sol Dimension seems to have some connection to ours, moving at the same time and being fairly easy to reach, in comparison to any other at least. And Silver is also there. Will this end up in trouble? How is Silver? And Blaze?… and Marine.*

* * *

You know, it wasn't meant that Shade and Knux would be going somewhere. I am more Knux x Rouge honestly. I was going to have them meet with Tikal and see what she was doing, but this little idea more or less wrote itself. Do you like it? I like the idea that Shade would take more initiative than Knuckles since she at least lived with several other echidnas, but would ask Rouge for advice since she would notice that they have some strange bond.

What do you people think of the whole Ken Penders´ fiasco? Would you like a continuation of the Dark Chronicles games? Would you like Shade the echidna back? If so, would you like her to return with the Nocturne concept or would you give her a new backstory, if the whole Ken Penders thing kept on?

Also, I had this chapter written by the time I uploaded the last one. Decided to wait a little to not publish chapters too soon between each other. Next one is like one third writen.


	11. The more things changes part 4

"Put her with the others!" A green and white robot with a torpedo shape head ordered. Some of his pirate-style robots were carrying a black colored female raccoon, taking her to the insides of the ship they were. The raccoon was tied by the ankles and wrists, unable to move adequately. But she wasn't calm or at ease. Like, at all.

"YOU BETTER HOPE I DON'T GET DOWN RIGHT NOW OR ELSE YOU WILL SEE WHAT I AM MADE OF! YES YOU WILL, YES YOU WILL! CMON, COME AND TRY YOUR LUCK YOU SWEET WATER FISH! PREPARE TO CRY!" The girl shouted, flailing as little as she could. She was wearing a large robe, covering part of her head. For some weird reason, she was also wearing a purple pirate style hat with a white skull.

Jonny had to put his hands at the side of his head, covering his audio receptors. She was just too loud. However, before they took her deep into the ship, he took her hat. She instantly noticed it, losing her composure even more. "I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND, THIS MEANS WARRRRRRR!" She roared.

"Silence her already!" He ordered. Instantly, she received a punch to the gut, as well as her face, blood starting to fall from her mouth and nose. She stopped for a little while.

The robots took her to the deepest level of the ship. In there several kids and other female anthros to shiver in fear the moment they noticed the robots coming. They were inside a metal box composed by several metal bars forming small squares. The robots opened it and threw the girl in there.

"`I don't want to color my hair´ she says. `There aren't many hedgehogs so I am going to be suspicious from the beginning´ he says. `Think of the people you are going to save´ they said." She mimicked their voices in a whine manner, while struggling to lift herself from the floor, with her face. She spit the last bit of blood on her mouth before looking at her surroundings, finally able to at least sit down.

She looked at the anthros: all of their eyes were hurt, lifeless even, hope escaping them; they were hurt with different degrees of bruises; she also could easily see that they were under nourished, some of their bones were shown below their skin. Marine then felt bad for them. *Right. The mission first.* She thought.

She stood up and cleared her throat. "Don't worry people, I am here to save you all." She said, trying to put her hands on her hips, forgetting that she was wearing handcuffs. As a result from her sudden struggle, she lost her balance, falling again to the floor, face first. Several whispers started, most of them were not positive toward the raccoon. "I AM TELLING YOU, I WILL SAVE YOU ALL! THAT OR MY NAME ISN´T MARINE THE RACCOON, CAPTAIN OF THE WHIM!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, only lifting her face from the floor.

The people around her started to exchange looks, the same confused was shared among them. "Who?" a woman finally asked. Marine let go of her head again, hitting the floor with a *Thud*. She then rose up again, sitting on the floor. From that position, she lifted her legs and arms, in a way that, from her perspective, both restraints were just in from of her, one over the other. She then started to make some movement on her mouth and spitted at the handcuffs.

The spit, however, came in a thin, almost unable to identify line that ran across both restraints, a second later these were cut in half. The people all looked in awe now. "Wait here for a moment." She told them. Before they knew it, Marine threw the coat she was wearing. She was wearing a dark blue skin tight scuba suit, fully covering her body to the neck. She wasn't even wearing her shoes or her yellow scrunchies, so her pigtails were actually just big balls of unordered fur. It was also to be noted that the girl had a curvy womanly body, not ridiculous like Rouge the bat but the girl was not bad looking.

She then put the cloak a random person. She then made a gesture with her finger on her mouth. "But you have being shouting the whole time." The person whispered. Marine looked annoyed by his comment.

"Just pretend to be me so they don't suspect someone is missing." She whispered, somewhat angry. Then she spitted again, this time on the locked door. She waited a second before pushing it, avoiding getting electrocuted or anything while opening it. Looking around for any possible trouble, she noticed the cameras moving at their intervals. Rapidly realizing their blind moments, she made a mad dash to the other side wall and stuck to it. Then she felt it: potable water. A water dispenser was on the wall, with a square hand sensor on it. It made sense that a water dispenser was kept near by the anthros they needed alive, but only a robot could activate it.

This was going to be tricky. Some of the robots were walking around, guarding while being in the sights of the camera. One in particular was moving close to her hiding spot, so she could do something about it. Once he was close enough, she threw herself at the robot. Now, Marine might be very reckless but she is also a competent mechanic. A few blows in the correct places and Marine was able to force the metal arm out of its body. The piece fell on her foot, to avoid much noise but that caused her to produce a loud squeal of pain instead of a scream. Without missing a moment, she introduced her hand on the wires and started to pull them and snap them, rendering the robot disabled without the need of fully destroying it.

However, with her luck, the robot made a shot before fully getting unable to move. *Damn it.* The robots looked at her way. Marine stepped away, only taking the robot hand with her, the remains betraying her presence. The robots went deeper, trying to find her. A robot moved closer to her position, near the water. *Swiss*, a soft sound was heard on the room, the robot froze in place before the upper half started to fall, only stopping because Marine grabbed it and slowly let it fall, barely able to hold it. When the other robot was on another blind spot, she also quickly and silently destroyed it.

The slaves wondered how the girl was destroying them. When Marine stepped out of the shadows and back to the cell that the answer came. Somehow, from the water she had taken, she created some kind of water saber, now on her hand; the hilt was a water sphere on her hand. She entered again in the cell and started cutting their restraints. The people were free, however, Marine told them to wait.

"There plenty more robots out there. Keep here. If they don't know something is wrong, they won't do something about it." She said before, walking away for the last time, the people she left behind felt something that they had lost for so long: Hope.

* * *

 _Sometime later._

"As you can see, my dear buyer, you always get the best with us. The fastest of them all. But don't dare to forget the payment." Jonny said cockily, sitting on a chair while talking to his recent buyer. There were talking via a computer, able to see the face of each other.

"Good. Guess you really are the fastest there is. If you will permit me to ask, why are you wearing a hat?" A fat red cat was talking on the computer, wearing a white, fancy looking suit, even having a cane made of gold as support. He had this arrogant, snob way of talking.

"Oh, I took it from one of the anthros you will get. You might want her, she wasn't bad looking at all." He said.

"Hohoho." He laughed, snobby. "How was she? Full details."

"She was quite energetic and loud, quite fire-y, but nothing a bit of training won't fix. Taller than average and quite curvy. A rare pearl, you might say."

"Hohoho. Sounds interesting. I love when they flail a lot. It is always the best to extinguish their hope." He said, a sinister smile appearing on his face.

"That should be all. Don't forget the payment." Johnny said, about to cut the call. Then, a big explosion came from the other side. The bot stopped on place, looking at the screen. The buyer had fallen from his seat, to the floor, siren like sounds were getting emitted from his ship. "What is going on?"

"Something is attacking us!" He said. He moved away, disappearing from screen. It, however, didn't last long, as he was literally thrown back to the camera´s range, a certain purple, fire-y cat appearing at his side. Blaze had landed in such a way that she was giving the back to the camera. She made a slow movement, moving her head in a way that she could only look at the screen at the corner of her eye.

When she did, even across all that distance, even with the fact that he was only watching an image on a screen, the moment Johnny optical receptors met her eye, he felt a shiver going down his spine, fear crawling up by her soul piercing stare. The feed from the other side was cut, but Johnny was still too shocked to do anything.

"Blaze? There? Impossible!" He thought aloud, being the only thing he could do really. "We were too careful. It should have looked like any other ship. There was simply no trace."

At the moment, *Clang* some metal sound was produced in the room. Johnny looked behind, right on the entrance, was Marine with her water blade, a cut in half robot right on her side. "That would have being me!" She said, proud of the timing.

"Marine the raccoon!" Johnny said.

"Yes. YES. Finally. Some recognition!" She started shouting while lifting her armed hand to the sky.

"And if Blaze was there… That means Silver will appear here at any sec." He said with panic.

Marine stopped her celebration at that moment. "Oh, Come on!" She shouted. "I am fairly strong and capable myself, why doesn't anyone take me seriously?!" After that, she sat, having her knees bent while she holds them with her arms. From what little they could hear, it sounded like she was crying. *After all these years, people still think of me as a sidekick. I think this is how Tails feels…. Wonder what happened with the guy.*

"Wait, what did you do?" He asked.

"Oh, I entered in your machines room and traced the video call so we knew where was the receptor thingy so Blaze could crash their party. I bet you think it wasn't a big deal either." She didn't break from her position, her voice being low, lacking her well known energy and excitement. It was even a little depressing.

Johnny stayed still for a moment, processing her answer. The moment that happened, he lit his jetpack and blasted off toward her. "You WHAAAAT?" He roared.

Marine finally snapped out of her depression, stepped aside while slashing at the robot, barely able to dodge his tackle. The robot was going a little too fast, needing to used both arms and legs to fully stop and spin on his own center, ending in a position like he was about to start racing. Here, he noticed that his arm had a rather big cut, courtesy of Marine´s last attack. *But I should not be this easily damaged by a measly sword.*

"HA!" Marine shouted as she waved her blade at her opponent. It was a strike meant for the head, and in his distraction, Johnny could only block it with his arm, another scar left from the hit. Marine continued with her barrage, the robot only able to block each coming slash.

"Now, you will see…" The robot answered, throwing a fist at her when he found an opening. All he found, was water. The girl had stepped away, but his fist passed through her blade. Then, his arm got stuck, not able to pass again from the blade. He yanked, pulling Marine. The raccoon then responded by lifting him from the floor. "What?" he asked.

Then Marine started flailing the blade all over the place, crashing Johnny into the walls and the floor over and over again. "Take this! Take this! Take this!" She shouted repeatedly, without really paying attention to what she was doing to him.

"Would. You. Stop. It. Bitch?!" Johnny said, being slammed into something between each word. Knowing that he wasn't escaping by just talking, he lit his back propeller, flying away and dragging Marine. The girl shouted of surprise. "You will be down in five seconds flat!" He promised. Using the momentum from his jetpack, he started smashing Marine against the walls of the room the same way as she did before.

Even if the area of the cabin was cramped, Johnny managed to maneuver at incredible speeds, harming Marine with each object on his way. Finally, he put a hand on the trapped arm and waved them down, sending Marine to the floor with all his strength. Marine, however, managed to land on her feet and did the same, pushing the robot to the floor for another hit. "That´s it!" He said, bolting away, still dragging Marine. He went to the outside of the ship, crashing against each wall while he tried to maneuver, the girl going through the same pain as him.

Finally, they got to the deck of the Ship, or, to be specific, over it. Johnny then stopped mid air. Thanks to momentum, Marine flew toward him. The robot grabbed her arms, pulling them up, not letting her move them freely. Then, he sped up toward the ship, crashing against it while using Marine as a shield. *BAM*

Marine felt the full force of the crash and the weight of the machine, her whole body in pain. However, Johnny wasn't done: igniting his propeller, he started dragging Marine against the floor. The raccoon started shouting from the pain, the burn produced by the graze was infernal. She tried to flail and squirm but the grapple the robot had her was too strong. "Can't take the heat, HUH? Then don't mess with the fastest on the…" Before he could finish the sentence, Marine was able to free an arm, sent the water blade to the free arm. The water took a new form, as an orb. Then, twisting her arm behind her, she shot the water, taking the shape of a large energy ball, sending the robot flying.

After getting some distance, Johnny descended, back to the other side of the deck. Marine fought the need to lose consciousness, and tried to stand up, but her whole body now lacked the strength to do so. Johnny, while buzzing and heavily damaged, struggled and managed to stand up. However, he was too damaged to even bother to try hurting her more.

"You know girl, I will make this quick and painful." He said, tired. Touching some kind of bottoms on his right arm. Suddenly, from the boarders of the ship, cannons started to appear, bending and pointing to Marine. One final touch and the guns shoot their ammunitions. Marine tried to stand up, only to hit the floor again. She then put her hands on her ears and closed her eyes, to prepare for impact… A little while happened, but nothing exploded. Marine opened her eyes, looking at the giant missiles around twenty times her size being stopped in the air by some kind of green-blueish aura.

A little further in the sky, wearing brown greaves, black boots, a white and red stripes shirt, a sky blue trench coat and bandana over his head (Using it to also tie his weird long quills in some kind of ponytail), Silver the hedgehog flew above them, thanks to his psychic powers. A small move with his hand made the bombs fly toward Johnny.

"HA!" Johnny shouted, too late since he couldn't get away from the explosives. The explosives left a giant cloud of smoke near his area.

Silver then made a horizontal movement with his arm, generating a psychic slash and cutting all the cannons with ease. After that, Silver lowered himself toward Marine. "Are you alright?" Silver Asked.

"Yes, Silver. I am so fine I don't want to get from the floor." She said sarcastically.

Silver let go of a *mmmrrrr* sound. When he first met Marine, she would constantly bother him because he didn't catch subtleties or because he asked stupid stuff. Excuse the guy for being from an Apocalyptic future!

"Sorry." Silver said, helping her stand up. Then, the whole ships shook, starting to incline. Silver was able to get to safety thanks to his powers, while Marine fell to the water, unarmed.

"What the….?" Both asked. Then, they noticed Johnny escaping in the distance, leaving a trail of smoke on his way.

"Suckers!" He shouted. Both of them noticed that he was flying low on the water, realizing that he had damaged his own ship, forcing it to sink.

"You weak will coward! A captain sinks with its ship!" Marine shouted.

"Marine, help the people on the ship. I will stop it from sinking but I need you keep everyone safe." Silver told her and she nodded. The girl took air and dived, entering the ship from the damaged area. Reaching the prison area, she instantly met trouble: the metal box was partially filled with water, not fully, and the hole was in higher than the box and the people, meaning that it would take less effort to stop more water from getting in. The problem was the people: they were trying to use the other as support, pushing each other back to the water, fighting for the area of air there was.

The door was closed, melted so it would not open the way Marine had opened it. At the same time, Silver covered the whole ship with his ESP aura, and started lifting the ship, trying to avoid it sinking further. He struggled to put the ship in a more comfortable position. However, he did not try to expulse the water that was already inside of the ship: If he wasn't careful, it was possible that the draining water would pull the people and harm them even more so it was up to Marine to save them.

So, Marine dived, searching for the pieces of the robots she destroyed earlier. After finding a robot arm, she resurfaced and directed herself toward the stairs. There, she shook the arm to get as much water as she could and started checking it. "Let´s see. This system goes there, these wires activate the vision, where is the trigger?" She said to herself, closing an eye to see more carefully at its insides. "AH HA!" She exclaimed when she found the wires she needed. "HEY! I NEED YOU TO GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" She shouted.

The people however, didn't reacted any different from her screams. Marine gulped, knowing that this was going to be much difficult than she expected. She hold the arm with her elbows while grabbing the two cut wires she needed to trigger the shot. Aiming the best she could with this conditions, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. *Here goes nothing.* She thought and made the two wires connect. Then, the shoot came, shaking Marine from her place.

The bolt entered the water and hit the metal box, hitting it with enough strength to push it open. Silence and the lack of movement followed for a moment. It was just a few seconds, but to Marine felt eternal, each second feeling slower than the last. The idea that her attempt of rescue had backfired slowly got worse. Thankfully, the sound of people swimming, combined with some of their desperate sounds signified that Marine had succeeded. Soon, the people passed by her side, in a panic but they all were saying their thanks to the girl.

Her whole body ached courtesy of the robot arm, but at least, the people was now safe. *There, everything went fine.* She thought, satisfied. A second later, she wanted to kick herself in the arse for jinxing it: Her eyes caught that the water was turning reddish. Ignoring the pain that her body was, she jumped into the water again, trying to find the hurt body. The blood made it hard to see, so she searched it with her hands, finding something. Carefully checking it out with her hands, she found a small body and found the torso, grabbing it and swimming back the best she could.

Not long after (but in Marine´s mind, never too soon) they reached the stair, getting the body out of the water. She initially thought it was an undernourished person, but it actually was a little kid, a small pika, with a huge scar on the head from where the blood was coming. Marine put her hands on her mouth, fear starting to grow on her. *Damnit, this was not meant to happen. What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?!*

"Help! Someone! A doctor, nurse, lifesaver, anything! I need help!" She shouted on her place, remembering not to move the body more than necessary. Some of the people she found however ignored her, turning away when Marine asked them. Marine couldn't believe it when they did it. "Are you kidding me?! She was in the same place as you, but you don't show her any sympathy?" She challenged, but they just kept guarding themselves. She lowered her head, anger growing, some to them, sure, but mostly to her own incapacity to handle this situation. "I can't do this alone." She said, sounding vulnerable and worried. Noticing that no one was coming, she decided to try again herself. Panic again started since she didn't know what to do. She knew about pushing a person chest to help them breath. But did he needed that? What about the head wound?

"Here." Said a voice behind her. She looked back, a person bringing a piece of cloth. Marine stepped back a bit, watching the person put the cloth on the wound. He then put his ear over the kid chest. "Make pushes on his chest. His heart isn't beating."

Marine did as told, internally praying that everything went right.

* * *

 _Somewhere else and a few hours later._

Blaze returned to her home island, Royal Ray island, taking the ship she invaded. Silver and Marine returned with theirs too, although Silver was completely drained from his strength after carrying the whole ship all the way. Once there, Blaze´s soldiers started roaming the ship, taking the people they rescued and the captured criminals. There was, however, one in particular with her.

"Dear Princess, this must be all a misunderstanding. Why don't we remove this rope and talk about it?" The red fat cat talked, not worried at all, almost ignoring the fact that Blaze just finished tighten the rope.

Blaze pulled the rope harder, tightening it further. He let go of a pain air when she did. The girl kept an intense stare on him. He didn't seem affected by it. "I am just an honorable business person. This is certainly not a fair treatment."

"Your ship has a shipment of slaves in the deepest areas." Blaze said, directly and not chattily. She looked tired, with large black rings below her eyes.

Blaze had not changed her appearance and attire that much: the same purple coat, white pants, flurry white cuffs, pink and white shoes and the same ponytails at the back of her head. The only real difference was a gold belt, with a part meant to insert her rapier and scabbard, for carrying it around with ease. The rapier had a golden cup hilt with a white grip and a sky-blue double blade.

"It did? I had no idea." He said, clearly feinting surprise. "My captain and crew chose and prepared this ship. I had nothing to do with that."

"We know about your deal with Captain Whiskers."

"I make a lot of deals every day. You would have to be more specific than that. I am confident that I didn't say anything wrong in it. I also wouldn't make a deal with a thief of the sea… intentionally, of course."

"We have footage of your video chat with Johnny."

"I know a lot of Johnnies. I also don't believe you have the person I made the contact with in that video. I highly doubt what you have would be enough to justify this treatment." The cat continued, confident of the situation. Blaze kept her cold stare at him, unchanging. Suddenly, Blaze pulled out her rapier. The red cat finally changed her expression to fear. "So that´s how it is? The nobles again show their true colors. They feint they care for the people as equals but when things get to the direction they don't want, they get rid of them, unpunished." He spat, indignant. There was a bit of a pause before he resumed. "I actually thought you were better than that." He ended, with real disappoint in his voice.

A few seconds happened, only the stare contest continued. Then, with an almost invisible move, Blaze hit him on the neck with a non-sharp part of the hilt. He was put out cold, shutting him up. The fiery cat sheathed the blade back, more satisfied with her decision than she wanted to admit.

"Take him away." She ordered.

"Umm, ma'am. He is Fancy." The soldier said. He was a rather infamous businesscat, plenty of time accused of committing crimes, but never found guilty, due to his connections.

"I noticed." She said sharply and with a no nonsense tone.

"He is a known figure."

"He was also in the ship, so, for now, he is also a suspect, even if later he is found innocent."

"B-but…" He started. Blaze was losing her patience, her right arm started to shake. She grabbed it with her left one, trying to make the movement less noticeable. The soldier still noticed it. "R-right away, ma'am!" The soldier shouted a bit panicked and carried him under his shoulder.

*Smooth, Blaze. Another soldier scarred for life. This time, without actually burning him at all.* She nagged herself. She was usually more in control, but being sleep deprived was a bitch at times. But sleeping was still not in her priorities: this slave traffic matter had only gone worse as time kept going; today they stopped two ships, but who knew how many more there were out there. What's more, she expected that Fancy would just dodge law again and repeat his tricks.

She willed away these thoughts, thinking only of getting an idea on to where they could search the next ship. That was until she noticed that Silver and Marine were discussing something, clearly not happy about one another. Normally, she would just leave them be, but today was not a good day.

"`Marine, you did a good job´. That all you got to say. Is it really that hard?" Marine complained at the white hedgehog.

"You broke that kid´s ribs. Is that what you are really proud about?" The white hedgehog shouted back.

"What about everyone else?"

"We go around saving tons of people every day. It is not that special."

"So what is the problem with one person I screw up? I remind you, he was in shock, so I started his heart back."

"Because there shouldn't be any."

"You are an idiot!"

"What does that have anything to do with this conversation?!"

Suddenly, a burst of fire appeared between the two, separating them. After the two surprised guys put some distance between the fire, it died down, Blaze walking slowly over the burnt area. The duo kept silence until she got far enough so she wouldn't hear.

"When was the last time she slept?" Silver broke the silence, showing concern.

"Like three days ago at my most generous estimate. She tries way too hard." She moved her head to the sides, also worried about her friend.

"Should we put her to sleep?"

"She hates when we force her to sleep."

"Are you afraid of what she might do?" He teased

"You are an even bigger dolt than I thought if you think that." She quipped.

 _Later_

"So we, investigated the northeast area of the sea, near the Big Swell and Pirates Island. There are some islands we haven't investigated. The most logical procedure if they know that we intercepted the other cargo is to escape to other areas. Coral Cove might be a good option of a hiding spot." Blaze was back at the sea in the Ocean Tornado, having a meeting with her strategist about what would be her next plan. However, said noticed Blaze tired look, only keeping away after gulping down four large cups of coffee. She was barely holding herself from falling, supporting her head with her arm. "Madam, if you permit me a suggestion, I think you need a little of rest."

"Not yet, I want to find the next navy as soon as possible." She stubbornly said.

"But-" he started but Blaze didn't let him continue.

"There are out there plenty of missing people that are being tortured or put on inhuman force labor. I can't permit myself to sleep with comfort while so much people is suffering." She said, ending the discussion. It was not that he didn't want to continue, but Blaze in such a state was terrifying. Not many people dared to do something to challenge her in such state, for their own safety. Of course, there was also Silver and Marine.

"Blaze!" Marine shouted from somewhere in the ship. Blaze instantly heard, her instinct kicked in. She started running as fast as she could, without burning the whole ship. "Blaze!" She shouted again, Blaze already outside of the room that was the origin.

She kicked the door open. "What is it?!" She shouted, worried about what could be happening to her friend. She would have never guessed what was going on in there.

"THE BED IS TOO COMFY!" The younger girl shouted. She was flailing her arms on a large, soft bed, soft enough that she was a little sunk in it, like a giant marshmellow.

Blaze stood frozen for a second, processing what just was said. In that second, Silver appeared behind her and, with a psychic push, threw her friend into the bed. Marine rolled off the bed in the second Blaze flew toward it.

"What the?!" It was all the cat could said when she landed on the bed, sinking a bit in it. She attempted to lift herself with her arms, but said just got deeper into the squashy object, unable to have a solid area to support. Marine then pressed a bottom on a stereo that was at the side of the bed, starting to play a lullaby. Soon, only one arm of Blaze was visible, as her body sunk deeper in the bed. Her arm stood straight, before giving up and falling to the side.

Silver and Marine moved a little closer to the bed, noticing that Blaze had fallen as sleep, snoring a bit. The sound she produced when she whizzed was like a little kitten sneeze. The two fist bumped, satisfied for their result and tip toed their way out of the room.

 _There are many boring and generics_ _ **Laters**_ _in this episode_

Blaze woke up in the room, suddenly, lifting her whole body at once. Then, because of the movement, the bed started moving, bouncing a little on its place. Blaze stood still: Last time, because of her fatigue, she couldn't concentrate enough to leave the bed by spinning over it. Now it was effortlessly. She left the room, the guards on her door tensed up at her presence. She recognized one of the two in particular.

"Amadeus." Blaze said. There was no threat or anger in her voice, just command. Amadeus, however, was concern for his wellbeing.

"Y-your majesty?" He said, nervous.

"You where the one before who told me about Mr. Fancy earlier today, right?" Blaze said, the poor soldier just tensed even further, sweat appearing. "I am sorry." She said. The soldier didn't seem to ease up, confusion adding to his mix. "I was tired and lost some control with the fire. I know it was enough to scare you soldier." She explained.

The soldier heard her comment, an awkward silence followed. "M-madam, don't worry about stuff like that. It happens to anyone." He said a little too fast.

"Maybe. But not everybody has my power. That's the thing."

"U-understood ma'am." He said, going stiff again. Blaze imagined she wouldn't go any further for now with this man.

"I will be counting in you in the future." She said before leaving.

"Ma'am?!" He said, unable to avoid it. He looked at Blaze but his queen kept walking, apparently not hearing him. He let go of a held air. It was then that he noticed that his partner was at his side, clearly holding his air until he burst into a laughter. "… What?!" Amadeus asked.

"Nothing rookie, nothing." He said, amusement still present in his voice. This only concerned Amadeus even further.

Blaze walked to the deck, her eyes finding Silver and Marine just looking at the horizon, talking about something and, to her surprise, not discussing like usual. It was nighttime already, the full moon shone intensively, its reflection in the waters was beautiful.

"Silver, Marine." Blaze said, calling their attention. They turned around looking at her.

"Blaze!" Marine shouted, running toward her.

Marine had changed her outfit at this point and removed the paint from her body: She was back at her orange color with brown rings on the tail and ears; she tied her hair, forming her upturned pigtails hold together by gold rings; she was wearing black, tight shorts, green and white boots, a green top that covered her chest and exposed her tight stomach and the purple pirate hat with a white skull that Johnny had taken away earlier.

Marine threw herself at Blaze in a hug, almost causing her to fall because of the push. "Marine, be careful!" The cat told her, but the raccoon simply ignored it.

"Did you sleep well? Are you not tired anymore? Not feeling like a little bitchy at all?" Marine asked, well aware that last part was going to hit a nerve on the cat.

"Marine!" Blaze nagged in a commanding voice.

"C'mon, girl. Relax. You know I don't mean it."

"Sometimes I wonder." Answered Blaze, well aware that Marine was the kind of girl to do whatever she wanted without thinking. She had learnt it was better to work with that, rather than against that.

"Joking aside." Silver joined the conversation. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, I am much better. But…" She started, but then stopped, at the moment she wanted the least. These were her friends, some that she had lived many adventures, but the words simply wouldn't leave the mouth, like, they wouldn't be enough. *Just say you are sorry. You said it no problem to the soldier!* She thought.

Surprising her, Silver put a hand on her shoulder. Blaze hair instinctly went up, feeling threatened, but when she identified the hedgehog, she eased up again. "It is OK, we understand. We know you are a bit obsessive. But that's what makes you." He said, trying to ease her up.

"Besides, that's why you have us. To make sure you don't loose your freaking mind." Marine joined, making a weird facial gesture when she said the last two words, saying them with a much deeper voice.

Blaze sighed, putting an arm on each of her friends and hold them closer to her. "Thanks guys. It means a lot." They remained together for a minute.

"That's what friends are for." Silver said.

"Yeah, yeah. You say that. I want some BBQ." Marine said, perkily.

"… You want to use my powers, the powers of the Sol, powers that can destroy anything in their way if used correctly, to cook you some meat." Blaze crossed her arms, unamused by her proposal.

"I am not hearing a `no-o´." Marine said.

Blaze let go an air from her nose, smiling weakly. "Captain of the Whim indeed."

 _Back to Tails and Wave_

"Shorty! Hey! Earth to Shorty!" Wave shouted. Tails´ thought bubble burst with this. He was thinking about the adventures he had back in the Sol dimension, now that Wave mentioned it.

"… Uh, I am sorry. What were you saying?" Tails asked.

"Nothing really. You started laughing, then stopped, and then nothing. What was that all about?"

"Nothing, just lost in thought." He answered.

"Weirdo" She told him.

"Enough about that. What have the infamous Babylon Rouges being up to all these years?"

"Geez, Shorty, so much interest in me. It sounds almost like someone is falling for me." She mocked.

"Oh, Chaos. I have been discovered." He said, pulling an arm on his eyes. "Woe me!" He messed around.

"Stop it you idiotic dolt." She answered, somewhat amused.

"But really, what kind of messes have you guys gotten into?"

* * *

Found in the last chapter "sixty years all"... Sixty Years all! What is wrong with me?! I search for mistakes for hours but noooooo. I find them **after** uploading a chapter.

OK. Enough self-pity. I have heard about the theory that says that Marine has Aqua-kinesis: the power to manipulate water with her mind. I had planned this scene where Marine is at the deck, with several robots around her. Then, using some god-like water control, she would dispatch them one after the other: there would be giant water tentacles, blades and other stuff, there was even this idea of her bringing a shark inside a bubble of water to attack them and rip them to shreds. Decided to scrap that idea because Marine would be too OP in the Sol Dimension, so she can now only use drinkable water.

Good news people. I got job! Kinda. Bad news: I will have less time for writing. I would also like to upload the other fanfic I have soon too. I want to end the `more thing changes´ thingy I have been going for the last 4 episodes, thought only one more to go. So expect that and keep cool people.


	12. The more things changes part 5

Wave: The title should be instead, `Hey, look, I know a little about the Sonic cannons. Praise me!´.

Nastories: My fanfic, my rules girl.

Wave: All you are doing is making fun of your characters and making them act out of character, that's literally what Sonic Boom is being doing!

Nastories: Is that a good or a bad thing? *Wave changes the topic because she doesn't know what to answer.*

Wave: You didn't even bother to try and write about the secret rings! When will you ever have that chance?

Nastories: I have barely played any of that game. Too uncomfortable to play. Neither know anything about the one thousand nights and one night book.

Wave: Lost opportunity there to satisfy all the secret rings fan.

Nastories: Yeah, the five people that liked that game.

Suddenly, five **hundred** people that liked the game appeared and started beating me up.

Wave: You asked for that, you know? All, you totally stole this from K4ce.

Nastories: She was not the first to do something like this, you know. *Then someone grabs my head and smash it against the floor.*

Authors' note: I got no idea where this came from. I think I might be high on air or something.

* * *

"I know there was something here. The UFO should be here!" A weird man wearing a lab coat and a hat with a string holding a tiny toy make UFO was at the door, looking quite frantic.

"Doctor, there is no such thing as UFO here. Probably a false alarm." The man with orange hair and pajamas said, rubbing his eyes. He sounded tired, clearly wanting to end this conversation as soon as possible. But who would blame him? It was 1:45 AM.

"Don't lie to me. My scanners detected activity over your house! Plus, you once housed Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. Hiding alien activity is unforgivable!" He said, flailing his arms like crazy.

"Doc, I was a ten year old kid back then. I understand that was wrong." He admitted. He then sighed, trying to think though what he was going to say next. "Doctor, I am also a man of science. Do you realize how little the probabilities that Sonic or someone from his world would crash, at my house, in the middle of the night, again?" He sounded as reasonable as possible, putting a hand on his chest.

There was a bit of silence between them. "…Yes." He admitted, seeing the logic in his reasoning.

"You also realize that new high tech planes and drones have been confused several times for UFO´s, especially the new models that appear with time?"

"… Yes." He said, even more defeated and depressed.

Chris couldn't help but feel sympathy for the crazy scientist. He was well aware of how special was to have Sonic and company as his friends. Ever since that day, many people were jealous of him, especially in the science community, of the fact that he had `different dimension lifeforms´ or DDL as they called them, in his life, living under his roof. He remembered how his grandpa reacted when he saw Sonic for the first time, trying to open him as if he was a machine or something and tried to open him up.

"Look sir, if I see any signal of an UFO or an alien or something, you will be the first one to be informed."

"Like I haven't heard that one before!" He spat, throwing his arm carelessly.

"Have you ever heard it from **someone** who met said lifeforms before?" Chris answered, lifting an eyebrow. He knew he had the man where he wanted.

However, the man in front of Chris saw some movement. Instinctively, he pushed him to the side, opened more the half open door and touched a bottom on his hat. The UFO toy lit up, illuminating the living room. What he found, was a dog, a full-grown Great Pyrenees white dog, holding a green humanoid bird with shoes and gloves. Or something similar, the man couldn't quite look at it from his point of view.

Chris, immediately, grabbed the man by the arm and, with a strong yank, threw the man out of his house. "Get out!" Chris shouted. The man fell, hitting the pavement. The latter turned around, looking surprised at the man. "Listen, I was hoping to humor you and let you go without problem. But if you are going to barge in like that then I need to stop you right there. Now get out before I decide to call the police." The man spat, harshly.

"I-if you didn't have anything to hide, then you wouldn´t act so rashly. W-what was that inside the dog´s mouth?" He asked pointing with his finger. The doctor, however, was shaking, clearly intimidated by Chris.

"That, was a doll from made out character from Sonic´s design. You know, the ones that are all over the world in almost every house?!" He snapped. The man at the floor looked more concerned, so Chris took a breath of air, easing his mind. "The doll belongs to my kids. They always leave them laying around and my dog grabs them like toys. It is annoying. Now, will you leave by good manners or do we have to get rough?" Chris said, pulling up one sleeve.

The doctor lifted himself fast, running away. "You haven't heard the last of me!" He said while running away.

Chris sighed again. "Believe me. I know it." He said to himself, knowing from experience how obsessive some Sonic fans are.

Then, some *crash* sound came from inside the house. Chris sighed again: it was too late to deal with this.

Entered his house, he walked in the dark, not switching on any light yet. He knew his way in the dark and, if he lit several lights, it would probably look suspicious: He imagined that crazy man was still looking into the house in the distance, possibly with binoculars. He however, lit the light on the kitchen, a room more difficult to look clearly from the outside.

"Come back here, you coward!" He heard a shout, then, the dog passed running into the kitchen, followed soon by the green bird anthro. Said anthro was holding a fan, thingy. Chris was alarmed when he noticed it. The birdman started waving it, pulling it down. Chris reacted by grabbing his hand, not letting him finish the movement. "What the-" Jet said, trying to escape from his grasp, but Chris hand wouldn't let him go. Jet tried kicking the man but Chris blocked it also with his leg, though winced at the strength of the hawk. "I recommend you letting me go before you really get hurt."

"If this fan is anything like Amy´s hammer then I am not letting this go anytime soon." Chris answered.

However, Jet looked at him with surprise. "Wait, Amy´s hammer. As in Amy Rose?" The hawk asked.

"Exactly." Wave´s voice was heard close by. Soon, she entered, accompanied by a blond woman in a wheel chair, and Storm, carrying one kid on his shoulder and a young girl hugging him on the side. Storm was shaking the kid a bit, knowing the little guy liked it.

"You are so fluffy!" The little girl exclaimed. However, quickly losing interest in Storm, she moved closer to Wave. "Are you fluffy?" She asked Wave excitedly, opening her arms into a hug position.

"You try hugging me and you lose a finger!" Wave said, without any restrain.

The girl froze on her place, before throwing herself at her mother legs, crying. "The bird woman was mean! Buaaaaaa!"

"There. There." Helen said, patting her daughter´s back. At that moment everyone in the room gave Wave a bit of a glare, for her mannerism.

"What?! I am simply not as open or friendly as this guy, so stop it!" She answered, giving them the back.

"So, are you guys friends with Sonic the hedgehog?" Chris asked, trying to get things moving.

Hawk caught a breath, ready to answer shouting and… Wave put a hand on his beak, stopping him from talking. "Yes, yes we are." Wave lied.

Chris and Helen obviously understood they were hiding something. "So, how did you guys fall on our dimension? Chaos Control accident?" Helen asked.

"No, we want to explore the dimensions." Storm said, lifting his fists. "But, we ran into trouble."

"So, you are stuck on this dimension for now." Chris continued.

"Look pal, just because we found some problems doesn't mean I can't handle it." Wave defended.

"So, you are stranded for now." Chris reiterated, with a deadpan face and tone. Wave was frustrated by his answer, a vein popping on her head.

"OOHHHHH!" The little girl said, getting super excited out of nowhere, she then threw herself at her father, with pleading eyes. "Daddy, Can we keep them, just like when you were a kid? Can we? Can we? Can We? Can We?" The little girl asked, with a continuously higher pitch.

"Hey! We are not pets!" Jet shouted.

"They got a point there sweetie. Sonic and the others chose to stay. I couldn't force them." Chris answered.

"Not even when you tried to." Helen quipped, winking only one eye. Chris swore he felt a tiny stab at the left side of his abdomen, thanks to her comment. After that, there was a bit of a stare down between the two, not only as a playful challenge for her joke; but also to ask a silent question for Helen. She understood it, nodding as an answer. "So what do you say? We don't have a problem if you stay here for a few days to fix any problems you might have." Helen offered.

"What would **we** get from such a deal?" Wave asked.

"Beds, food, not getting hunt down by normal people..." Helen numbered.

"What?!" The bird anthros shouted.

"Yeah, Sonic was a big deal back then. If anyone finds out that more of his friends fell on our world again, people will go nuts. Maybe they will rip you of your feathers, quill by quill, perhaps something worse." Chris suggested, without any real malice, just commenting lightly.

"Stop messing around!" Jet challenged

"We aren't." They answered in unison.

"There was this Christmas when five kids got hurt because they were fighting for a Tails´ doll." The little girl said.

"I just kicked a guy out of the house because he detected you guys." Chris said.

The Babylon Rouges started to show concern, Wave and Storm stared at their leader, waiting for his decision. Jet sighed. "I guess staying a day or two won't hurt anyone." Jet admitted. On cue, the dog threw on the bird leader, the hawk ending below the beast belly. The green bird was beyond annoyed. "Beast, I hope you are happy with yourself…" Jet said, his voice low, trying to sound normal, but there was clear anger coming from his tone. "… Because now you will, see my true power!" He roared, slipping off the dog and starting to run toward it with the fan in hand, the dog running away from the bird, enjoying the game.

"Wait, don't destroy the house!" Chris shouted, following the two. The rest of the people just observed, at ease.

"Guess we are stuck here for now." Wave said, not looking too happy about the situation. "Can we at least get a name?"

Helen blinked a bit, realizing until now that they hadn't presented each other. "Sorry. My name´s Helen, the girl is Samantha-"

"HI!" Samantha shouted."

"- the little kid is Chuckie and the one following your leader is my husband Chris. We are the Throndyke."

 _Back with Wave and Tails_

"No. Way!" Tails exclaimed, surprised and happy, the happiest Wave had seen him so far. "You met Chris, and Helen, just after you left the dimension?! And they were married? With two kids?"

"Um, yes, I just said that. Are deaf or something?" She insulted.

"Whatever, bird bitch. I am too happy for them to care."

"Who are you calling a bird bitch?!" Wave snapped. Tails pulled out his tongue, teasing Wave. "Hmph." She said, looking away from the fox. "Well I hope you are happy because you aren't getting anything else from me." She said.

"Wave, don't be mean. I was just joking." Tails said, sounding still playful.

"No!" She said.

"C'mon girl, I am sorry." She let go another *hmph*, not saying anything else. "A non-loudmouth Wave, huh? I never thought this day would come." He joked again.

"If you haven't noticed, you have talked much more than me all night long."

"De-Tails." The fox joked, shrugging.

"OMG, that was so bad. Leave the stupid jokes to Sonic." She face palmed. Tails just laughed softly. "Seriously, you were suddenly a brooding, Eggman wannabe and now this?"

"Want me to be a boring one dimension guy? Really?" He joked. A moment later, Tails expression went somber again. He looked down at his tea. "I bet you didn't know, but a month in our dimension was a year in theirs." Tails had a sad smile plastered on his face.

*…Oh, shit.* Wave thought. She just remembered that Tails said that ´they were married´ instead of **are**. If they aged the same way that the humans in this dimension, it was likely that they were dead by now. By age or by any other means unless they had also dimension travel or maybe even time travel, but this was extremely unlikely. Wave softened her expression. "Guess it is still not the time to feel non-loudmouth, is it?"

 _Back at the X dimension, a day after they crashed there._

"Bruuuuuummmmm." Storm made sounds with his mouth, carrying the two kids on his back with his hands. He was running around in the small garden, having the two kids feel the sense of speed.

Meanwhile, Jet had been caught, again, by the dog, being held on his mouth while the bird anthro flailed like crazy. "Let me go you super developed freak!" But the dog didn't seem to care in the slightest.

Meanwhile, Wave was with the Thorndyke adults, although only one of them was acting like an adult.

"Incredible. Wow. This is unbelievable." Since the Swallow presented them with her ship´s blueprint, Chris had acted like a kid in a candy store, not believing that real life machines were fueled by wind and nothing else. Don't misunderstand, wind energy from mills is nothing extraordinary, but the way it generates so much energy was unbelievable. He kept watching at the blueprints, his eyes beaming happiness.

"What a little kid!" Wave spat.

"I know. You can even hear him in his sleep about how much he likes his toys." Helen agreed.

"Oh, God. That sounds annoying."

"Less than you think. It gets adorable at times. And good for blackmail at times."

"Ha, guess you guys aren't all goody two shoes, huh?"

"What can I say? A lot of people try to take advantage of weak people. Good thing I am not."

"But Wave, nothing here seems wrong. In fact, the only problem is that you are out of energy. Was there a problem?" Chris interrupted the girl banter.

"Eggman. You know about him?" Wave said bluntly.

The Thorndykes answered with their heads. "So, all you need is wind energy, then?"

"You make it sound like it´s easy. To fill the tanks we needed a whole tournament of sound-speed racers. Several races at those speeds."

The Thorndykes exchanged looks, seemingly having a conversation just with that. "Is any of you guys a skilled pilot or racers?" Helen asked.

"All of us on both categories." Wave said, confidently.

"I know someone who will help us. But he will only help if he can compete against a fast racer. He tried to beat Sonic several times but he couldn't, thought he always gave Sonic a run for his money. What do you say?"

"No problem. Jethas beaten **Sonic** in races before."

"He doesn't seem nearly as fast." Helen commented, looking at the Hawk running after the dog again with no success.

"You will see."

 _Back to the present_

"Tell me though, what exactly are the Thorndykes? They brought several supersonic jets and cars, in matter of days, and then filling the ship took just hours instead of a month of racing. Like damn. That's insane." She said we genuine surprise, throwing her arms to the air in emphasis.

"Chris was a rich boy and he had an uncle in the Special Forces, a high speed cop group or something like that. He was probably the one you raced against."

"Well, I must admit, I am impressed. I didn't think they were that capable."

"I am impressed, too. But I don't find it unexpected, either. He grew a lot last time I saw him. I am happy for him."

"I am surprised you guys are the ones the Thorndykes met. I mean, we travelled to several dimensions, very different from one another, but more often than not we were stuck with some other type of Sonic and company." She said, slightly annoyed.

"You are kidding." Tails challenged, not ready to believe her.

"I wish I were." Wave answered, with annoyance.

 _Flashback_

"Sonic the hedgehog, I challenge you!" Jet shouted, pointing at the hedgehog with his finger. This Sonic, however, was not the one he knew before: he was taller and slimmer, wore a brown bandana around his neck and had a strange fetish for bandages, both on his ankles and wrists.

At his side, was also Eggman, also slightly different: he looked slimmer too, wore baggy pants and his shirt had some white and yellow cloth at the side. At that exact moment, however, he and Sonic were dancing….really. They were making break dance moves at the sounds of a funky sounding tune, spinning around on a matt.

"In a minute." Sonic told him, changing their moves to that Russian dance with their arms crossed and their legs extended.

"Ummm. What are you doing?" Jet asked.

"Dancing. Isn't it obvious?" Sonic said.

"Why?"

"To determine who is the best, of course. And that will be me." Sonic answered.

"Dream on, Hedgehog! I beat you once before, and I will do it again." Eggman told him.

"You are the one who is dreaming." Sonic answered.

Jet stood there for a moment, trying to process what was going on.

 _About a second later._

"Boss, what are you… doing?" Storm asked, watching Jet dancing alongside Sonic and Eggman, now dancing tap.

"Dancing, isn't it obvious?" Jet answered.

"Why?"

"Because I will beat this hedgehog in every way possible." He said, now dancing something that required a lot of pelvis movement.

"I don't even…"

 _Some other day_

"Put your hand there." Storm told Knuckles, pointing a piece of bread. Storm had put a loaf of bread on the table, and the bulky Echidna obeyed. Then Storm added pickles, some peperoni, salt, pepper, tomato, tuna, ketchup and another loaf of bread. To hold the thing together, he used two large tooth sticks at both sides. "There it is. The Knuckle sandwich." Storm shouted proudly, shaking his hands in awe.

"Oh, sounds delicious!" Knuckles said, before proceeding to bite his dinner. The moment his teeth sunk into the sandwich, he felt an incredible pain. "Auuuuuuch."

Storm made his best to repress his laughter, watching how Knuckles was causing himself so much damage. *He is even dumber than me!* Storm thought. However, Knuckles didn't stop at the first bite: he continued, with each bite, he shouted in pain, but he didn't stop. He continued taking bite after bite.

Storm soon stopped thinking it was amusing. He thought he would enjoy being bad to his rival for just a tad longer. But alas, he wasn't that kind of anthro. There was about only half of the bread left before Storm stopped him. "Stop."

"What? Look, I am thankful for you making me this sandwich, but if you want some, could we wait until I end this to make another?" Knuckles told Storm.

"It wasn't really a sandwich. I just pranked you. I am sorry. You have been biting yourself the whole time." Storm admitted, looking down, not able to look at him though the eye.

"I can't believe it." Knuckles said, with awe. Storm knew it was going to blow into anger, although the reason why Knuckles was really angry was something he really didn't see coming. "You weren't going to give me food?!"

The albatross blinked twice. "That's… what has you upset?"

"You might prank a man, you might tell him he is stupid, you may even take advantage of that man stupidity. But if there is an untold rule between men that cannot be broken even: You. Never. Mess. With. A. Man´s. Meal!" Knuckles spoke solemnly, inspiringly, and much more complicated than what the Albatross expected from him.

"…What?" It was all Storm could answer.

"I don't know either!" He shouted, picking a giant rock that was nearby and used it as a club to hit the Albatross. All Storm could do at the time was run.

Meanwhile, Wave laughed at how the whole thing played off. Suddenly, she felt a strange breathing on her shoulder. "Do you mind?!" She told the orange Badger, which wearing foil paper over her head. She was ignoring all boundaries of personal space, her head just centimeters away from her neck.

"No, I don´t." Sticks answered, invading Wave´s personal space even more. "I never thought the brain sucking dimension aliens would look like birds." She commented, as she checked Wave´s braids.

"Get off me you beast!" Wave shouted, trying to kick her, but Sticks dodged her easily. "Like, anything will ever want your brain for anything!"

"Aha! So you admit you are guilty!" Sticks shouted and pointed with a finger.

"I never said that!" Wave shouted. Out of nowhere, Sticks pulled out a big hollow tree log, carrying it over her shoulder.

"Prepare for the pain!" Sticks shouted, aiming at Wave.

"Seriously, what are you going to do with that log?" She mocked, putting her hands on her hips. Out of nowhere, a boom sound came from the log, as well of smoke on the side that was at the back of Sticks, and a pineapple coming at high speeds, hitting Wave and pushing her a few feet away. Wave was stunned after that hit, and Sticks put herself quickly above Wave, pointing her with the cannon again. "Any last words?"

"It is just a log! It doesn't even have a pineapple inside right now! How are you doing this?!" Wave was too fixated on these facts to care about her being pointed out with a gun.

"Only a brain drinking alien would choose those as her last words!" Sticks shouted.

 _Another other day_

"Goodbye." Zoey said.

"Goodbye." Tails said, as he was leaving her house. He sighed happily, skipping his way home. Zoey was about to enter her house when the border of her eye noticed a girl, a purple, bird woman going toward Tails. The fox girl went covered herself a little with the door, watching them talk and walk away. The thought of following them without Tails knowing only kept growing.

She had heard about the birds-people coming from a different dimension, three bird anthro racers that had a little clash with Sonic and the rest of the gang. She didn't care all that much for that: It was just another Wednesday, nothing really new. Tails was a little hurt when she found him, but nothing out of the ordinary, either. The thing that completely took her by surprise was that there was a bird woman, the mechanic of the group. And it was Tails the one that brought her up, with some awe and respect for her. That´s what bothered her.

*C´mon, he is Tails, the sweetest boy you have ever met. He wouldn't cheat me with another girl… right?* The more rational side of her brain tried to convince her, but, before she knew it, she was following them, hiding from sight behind walls and people, trying to listen to whatever they were talking about. Sadly, she was too far away, trying to remain unseen by them, to listen clearly.

"So, Shorty got himself a girlfriend? What did you have to do to get her? Kidnap her family? Blackmail? Bribing?" Wave teased him.

"Nothing of that. Just my natural charm." Tails said, pointing both his thumbs toward him. Wave didn't believe him one bit.

"What happened?" She demanded in a no nonsense manner. "You asked someone for advice, didn't you?" Wave suggested, for some reason, looking like a teacher or something ready to punish her student.

"No!" Tails replied, a little too soon, now Wave was sure he did.

"Was it Sonic?" Wave suggested. Tails was unable to hide the surprise in his face from what she suggested. "OMG, you did!" She shouted, starting to laugh at him.

"Cut it out!" Tails shouted, flustered.

"Why did you even thought it was a good idea?"

"… I admit I tirelessly question my train of thought back then, but, c´mon. He is not that bad." Tails tried to defend himself.

"Dude, she asked for a cheese burger." As on cue, Sonic shouted at Dave, for messing their order.

"Sorry, I will get what your girlfriend wanted." Dave answered, with his usual complete lack of emotions. Sonic and Amy, however, blew up.

"She is not my girlfriend!" He shouted with gritted teeth, immediately after Dave´s comment.

"Hahaha. Seriously, nowadays anyone sitting with a friend on a table while eating together in a clearly only platonic, non-romantic manner is told that they are a couple. People and their labels. Hahaha. Right? Hahaha." Amy answered in complete panic, looking chaotic, maybe even a little crazy.

"Haha. Yeah. I mean, who in his right mind would want a control freak girl as their girlfriend that will try to control him at every step and might hit him with a giant hammer when the littlest thing goes wrong." Sonic wished and tried to stop his words from coming but they simply would not stop until it was too late.

Amy stood there, frozen, for a few seconds, while Sonic took little steps away from her. A few more seconds and Amy finally burst, throwing the table they were eating at away. Wave and Tails had to duck because the table flew toward their direction. At this point, Sonic had used his super speed to get as far as he could in the shortest time. Amy then noticed Tails. "Where is the blue force 1?!" She roared.

"At my house, but…" Tails couldn't finish his thought as Amy destroyed her way to his house, breaking buildings and constructions on her way.

"… I rest my case." Wave said, now that things had died down.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Tails answered.

"Hey, at least you didn't ask the crazy wild girl for advice." Wave commented and started walking again, not trying to turn Tails completely red like he did. He was thankful she didn't noticed and that he was able to will it away. Before they knew it, Amy appeared, riding a blue motorcycle, flying, vehicle thing and zooming at high speeds. "Sometimes I wonder which Amy is worse?"

"Oh, right, you guys said something about us having dimensional counter parts. How different are they from us?" He asked

"To put it simply, Sonic was less arrogant and cocky, Knuckles was not nearly as stupid, Amy was crazy but yours seems crazier at times…" She stopped to look at Tails more carefully. "You are probably the least different."

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Tails asked.

"It is a good thing." Wave admitted continuing walking. Tails smiled at her answer, although the next part wasn't that nice. "That makes you at least tolerable." Wave ended, Tails feeling like he was hit in the back of his head with her comment.

Meanwhile, Zoey continued her careful look at them, hiding behind the beaver man, clearly not hiding herself at all. Wave was well aware of her presence, so she decided to exploit it.

Without Tails´ consent, she grabbed his arm, and pushed him against the wall. He wanted to whine or complain, but meeting Wave´s eyes, a barely any space left between their mouths and seeing her hand just a little at his side, well, he was too stunned and confused to say anything, a blush forming on his face.

"WOW!" Zooey shouted, pushing the beaver to the floor. "WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW." She shouted, diminishing the distance between, getting near them… and she stopped, putting her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath.

"And who might you…?" Wave started, before Zooey lifted a finger, telling her to hold on.

"I have one more wow in that I need out." Zooey said, without lifting her head from her position, still not fully catching her breath. "Wow!" She shouted again. If Tails was too ashamed to say anything before, now he was in a completely new level.

"So, that all you are going to say?"

"No. What do you think you are doing with my boyfriend?" Zooey demanded.

"Huh, I thought Shorty over there was single." Wave answered. She stopped holding Tails to the wall. She turned herself and him around, now looking at fox lady, while she put her head on Tails´ and her arms around his neck.

"But-" Tails wanted to interrupt but Wave tightened her grip, cutting his air, unabling him to talk.

"You are hurting him!" Zooey said.

"Although I doubt he would want a girl as boring as you. Seriously, there is nothing in you that says individual or special." Wave continued, not paying attention to her.

"Who do you think you are?!" Zooey shouted, partially forgetting about Tails´ problem.

"My name is Wave the Swallow, racer, mechanic, tomboyish woman and treasure hunter. What are you?" She answered with her typical overwhelming confidence.

"… Well, I am Zooey Fox and I play Fuzzy Puppy Buddies!" Zooey answered, it sounding much better on her head than said. Although she really didn't have many things to show off about.

Wave was dumbfound that she said such an answer, then she burst into laughter, to the point where she fell on the floor, while slamming her fist to the ground repeatedly. Tails, finally, broke free and ran toward Zooey´s side.

"Why are you hanging with a girl like that?!" Zooey snapped at poor Tails.

"They are form another dimension. I just wanted to see what technology they had!" Tails answered defensively, putting his hands up in the air.

"Why did that girl thought that you were single?!"

"I don't know! She knows we are a couple!"

"Problems in the paradise?" Wave asked, while still laying on the floor.

"Listen girl, I don't know what you really want with Tails, but if you try anything else with my boyfriend…"

"You will stalk him again like a crazy fan girl?" Wave interrupted, cutting her words short. Zooey took a step back before looking at Tails. The young fox looked surprised at her, not necessary accusatory, but it made Zooey uneasy. "I think the lovebirds need to fix their problems. Come see me when you are done with that." Wave said before walking away.

The couple of foxes stood there, an awkward silence happening between them. Both trying to distract themselves with the dirt, at least until she talked first. "I am sorry. I shouldn't have stalked you like I did." She was looking away, her hands moving one over the other repeatedly.

"Did I do something wrong?" Tails asked, concerned about having hurt Zooey. She smiled; this was really the sweet boy she knew he was.

"… Not really. It just that, I rarely hear you excited about a girl, let alone one that was a mechanic. And when I saw you hanging out with her and her wild look… I couldn't help but feel… jealous." She confessed.

"But why?"

"… Tails, you interacted more with her in a few minutes than you have done it with me since we date." She said like it was obvious

"C´mon, we have spent tons of time, like when I tried to impress you…" Tails suddenly stopped talking, trying hard to remember what have they done. But nothing came to mind.

"You don't even remember!" Zooey accused.

"I am sorry, but nothing comes to mind!" Tails explained.

"Well, I remember…" And, just like the male fox, nothing came to her own mind. "Wait, have we actually ever done something together?" She asked.

"I know. It almost feels like you and I are never the focus, like, people watching us from the outside believe that would be too boring or just another thing to throw around in an attempt to make us look like we are developing as characters."

Zooey looked down at when he finished the sentence. "I guess I really am too boring."

Tails, noticing how sad she looked, moved closer to her and took both her hands with his own. Zooey then lifted her head, eyes locked between one and the other. "You are right; you are a little boring…" Tails started, the face of Zooey contorted into anger. "… But I love that about you." Now Zooey looked him as if he was an alien or something. "With Sonic and the others it is always action, madness and pain. Lots of pain. And the town people are too… eccentric. Because you don't stand out is why you stand out so much to me." Tails told her.

Zooey was now at the brink of tears of joy. She pulled Tails closer to a bear hug. Tails was surprised by her sudden movement, but joined her in the hug a little later.

 _Back with Tails and Wave_

"Now I know you are making that up." Tails said, flatly.

"Really?" She said, expecting this answer.

"You wouldn't help me and any girlfriend I might have with no reason. Heck, you sounded excessively nice to me in that story."

"Oh, believe me, I was desperate for anyone, and I mean ANYONE, not remotely as stupid as everyone there!" Wave told him, shuddering at the end when she remembered how stupid everyone was there. "But, I didn't do it for free." She admitted, a sinister smile forming on her face. "Apparently, you did ask for help for wooing the girl from the crazy girl of your group." Tails gulped. Wave just tasted the moment, enjoying his expression while it lasted. Then, she grabbed her holo-pendant. A green screen came out of it, showing Tails a little version of him, dancing on a table while having several feathers attached to him, cooing repeatedly, with a mob surrounding him.

"… You won't find that pendant tomorrow." Tails whispered, cursing himself for not erasing its content or maybe even breaking the stupid thing altogether.

"You will try." Wave just commented, acting unimpressed. "It is already in the internet, so all your efforts are in vain."

"… Remind me why I am letting you stay here and help you landing on your feet."

"Because you are a soft heart that won't let me die like a monster or whatever you think will happen. And because you secretly love me but refuse to admit so."

"Someone is feeling delusional."

"Glad that you are accepting it."

 _Back to storytelling_

Jet was standing in a clearing in the middle of the forest, in front of him, a pair of blades were set on the dirt. The blades shape resembled a bit to some kind of metal fan with a long tilt.

"Now, Jet the Hawk, take the Tengus, to prove your worth as a warrior and join us in saving Sir Lamorak, or your friends…" Sir Percival, a knight looking strangely similar to Blaze the cat, preached. When she said `your friends', she looked Wave and Storm, noticing that they were inside a cauldron, with water inside of it and fire below it. The birds were tied and gagged, unable to escape no matter how much they shook or what sounds they produce, all that while Lady Nimue ( **AKA Amy in a dress** ) chopped and tossed vegetables into the soup, while Sir Gawain (Knuckles) and Sir Galahad (Silver) just observed. Percival was really confused in that moment.

"Lady Nimue, what are you doing?" She asked with complete confusion.

"Cooking." Was all she said.

"WE DON'T COOK OUR PRISONERS." She snapped, horrorized by the idea.

"But you guys eat birds."

"It is not nearly the same!" She shouted again. "And why you guys are doing nothing about that!?"

"You try stopping Lady Nimue. She wouldn't listen!" Gawain explained.

"Can you guys stop cooking my friends already?" Jet interrupted, holding both blades. Sir Percival was able to let go a held air while Lady Nimue let go a sound of disappointment.

 _Back with Tails and Wave_

"… HUH." Was the only comment Tails expressed.

"… That's all you got to say about a Medieval version of your friends?"

"It is not that. It means that I actually owe Sonic money." Tails said.

He remembered that, many years ago, team heroes made a bet that Sonic had to ask Amy out. They heard that he had actually asked her out but then never appeared on the date, saying something about being King Arthur and a lot of other crazy stuff. Now, apparently, he wasn't all that crazy.

 _Are you guys as tired as me of this transitions?_

Some chibi like version of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were waiting inside some kind of elevator, accompanied by a red armadillo and a yellow squirrel, all ready to leave, looking like they were going to have the time of their lifes. The elevators walls were about to close, before some big hands stopped it dead and reopened, now the Babylon Rogues stood, Storm being the one who stopped the door. However, they didn't quite look the same:

The Rogues were, for whatever reason, smaller than their normal size, looking rounder, with bigger eyes and overall, looking cuter. Jet took the lead, pointing at Sonic and ready to shout his demand… and no sound came from his mouth. Jet grabbed his neck, believing there was something wrong.

Wave moved her beak, trying to ask what was wrong, and realizing that she couldn't speak either. Storm soon joined and rapidly understood their problem. The three birds were freaking out, while the five friends just looked at each other in confusion. However, Sonic noticed something. In the distance, Amy the Rascal came running, at incredible speeds. She would be there in a few seconds. So, the hedgehog grabbed the three birds, shoved them into the already crammed elevator and started jabbing the bottom with the M++. Just as Amy was reaching the door, it closed, smacking her whole head against it. After that, she sat on the floor, grabbed her legs, and started crying.

 _Back at the plot_

"Harsh." Tails couldn't say anything else.

"I know. Can you see why I believed that Sonic hated Amy?" Wave commented.

 _What is the point of all this point less cameos/references?_

Jet, Storm and Wave just came out of the zeppelin, hoping to find some action. This new dimension was the weirdest of them so far: it had several platforms littered all over the place, till the end of the horizon. However, the platforms had different orientations: some were straight normal but some were vertical, inclined and upside down. The crazy thing however, was that each platform had a construction and people walking over them, in all these different orientations, as if each platform had their own gravity.

However, they soon found that this place was more wrong than right. A closer inspection showed that the edifications were damaged, destroyed, with holes in the roofs, cracks on the windows; The people on the platform they landed all whore this weird armour consisting of green boots with gold pieces, red clothing, gold belt and upper armour and helmet with a visor… except, all of it was dirty, ragged, broken and the visor was cracked and damaged. The people themselves looked lifeless, almost like zombies, their movements slow and depressing.

To drive the whole point home, a Sonic, wearing said destroyed clothing, appeared on their sight, shaking uncontrollably and repeating something in an unsettling manner. "Dimensions dead. Dimensions dead. Dimensions dead. An entire multiverse dead."

The Babylon choose to ignore it for a little while, but the more familiar people they found, like Knuckles, Vector, Espio, even Eggman, the more they realized that everyone was saying and acting that way.

Some people just stood there, sitting while grabbing on their knees, as if hope had left them. Just muttering how they had failed, how a whole multiverse was dead. Eventually, they found copies of themselves. They waved a hand at them, right in from of their eyes, but even like that they didn't reacted. The Babylon then put themselves in a way that they could look their eyes. They wish they hadn't, as all of them had their eyes missing, some black holes replaced what were supposed to be their eyes.

"… Guys, let´s jump somewhere else. I don't think we will find anything here." Jet said, but even them couldn't help but feel how unsettled this place made him feel.

 _I just thought they would be fun. Plus, multiple dimensions, when will I have the chance to include these many in a single chapter?_

"… Well, isn't that eerie?" Tails commented. "They didn't say anything else?"

"No. They were constantly going about how a whole multiverse was dead or something. I think we heard them said once that they had failed, but honestly, that place was easily the creepiest place we ventured. I am so glad we barely stayed there." Wave said, giving herself some kind of self-hug, as if just remembering it was able to upset her.

"Was it that bad?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, but luckily I…" Wave started, and then she stopped, feeling a sting on her chest. "I had those two dorks with me." She ended, doing her best to make the short silence not nearly as evident as possible. If Tails was younger, he thought that it might have gone over his head.

Tails blinked twice, also feeling a sting on his heart: Wave had expressed her anger, confidence… just about everything when it came to expressing, but never weakness or fragility, not until now. It had a strange effect on Tails. He felt compelled of putting a hand on her shoulder. Wave almost jumped, reasonably surprised, and the thing that Tails told her was the icing on the cake.

"Don't worry, Wave, we will get your partners back." Tails said in his most reassuring smile. Wave was looking at him, trying to read him, but she found nothing wrong. No tricks, no sarcasm noticeable, no malice, just an honest guy trying his best to reassure her. And that's what made her snap.

"Hands off!" Wave brushed his arm off, stood up and took three steps from him, looking absolutely scared of him while breathing heavy, almost as if that simple touch burned her or something similar.

Tails opened his eyes a lot: he looked hurt, betrayed by her reaction. He closed his eyes and let go off a held breath. "I think that's enough for tonight." That's all he said, still sounding hurt before leaving the room.

Wave was still trying to get her emotions in control, or at least, understand what was going on her head: she genuinely felt reassurance and calm when Tails made that final gesture. But her more cynical side, flared up like an alarm, telling her that something was wrong. She had seen and heard about what this Tails had being doing, that had to be some kind of trick. Maybe he was trying the Stockholm syndrome, trying to get her to lower her guard. Or maybe, he was just being Tails, the kind, nice, goody-two-shoes fox he knew so long ago: He was giving her bed, food, tv and internet, instead of being turned into a monster, killed by G.U.N or whatever else they had told her so far. She wasn't even sure what to feel about that!

*Go to sleep. It is too much right now.* She finally thought, finally leaving the room. She reached her bed, laying on it, hoping to sleep as soon as she could. She found herself remembering a little more about her friends and their adventures. Except, she soon found herself without adventures to remember. Her eyes opened widely. She tried to think of her adventures while travelling through dimensions, but for some reason, she couldn't remember. Like, she was sure there was more going on, but she couldn't remember any. *Just what is going on with my life?!*


	13. Besties

"Cream, I need you to do me a favor."

"Tails, it is 3 A.M. I hope you plan on paying it back."

"The usual?"

"That's a start."

* * *

 _The next day_

Wave was an early bird, quite literally: years at the Battle Kukus´ training can do that to someone, but even as a rogue, she was easily the most disciplined of the trio. So, waking up at 9 A.M. felt wrong for her. She then realized that she wasn't on her bed anymore, or in her zeppelin, instead she was in a common bedroom, with a bed, a TV, a small radio, all telling her that she was in a small hotel room, just a little extra cozy.

*Oh, right. I am staying with Tails.* It finally landed on her. She was still foggy from her sleep, but she decided that it was better leave the bed.

The door was futuristic, a metal door that opens itself when someone is around, ahead of that, there is a small, also completely metal pathway. Finishing the pathway, there was a small hall, watching other six doors around Wave, probably meaning that there are at least 6 bedrooms more. The pathway that was the furthest lead to the next room area.

The next rooms were a gym, 4 rooms, each with a different purpose and containing everything you might imagine: one room had weights stacked up neatly, machines, spinning bikes and such; the next had mattresses, horizontal bars, pummel horses, beams and all the stuff for gymnastics for both sexes, as well of punching bags and punching bodies, for martial artists and boxers; one had a freaking Olympic pool; next came a basketball and soccer field, two in one. All the rooms had their lockers and stands for the several different tools one might need for each different exercise. *Though, I bet he has never stepped in here since he finished building it.* She thought.

Next came some stairs, leading to the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen had five ridiculously large fridges, thought only one was active and was fill with junk food, Chinese food and other not very healthy stuff. *Guess this is why his stomach is only growing.*

After that, an entertainment room, with videogame consoles with their own TVs, arcade like consoles, billiard tables, a large movie screen, bowling, etc. Next came a study, a conservatory with several instruments and a nursery, the latter being the biggest of them. Then, the computer room and some kind of engine room, with several machines and indicators of the state of the whole construction.

Stairs again, and Wave, admittedly, was already feeling her legs sore. *He seriously needs an elevator for this crap.* This time, however, it was a hangar, with several small planes, some that look slightly like space ships, a pup robot thing and … *A freaking ship!* She thought. Then she looked at the other two sea vehicles. *Holy shit, he got a submarine and a hovercraft! Does this guy have a life at all?!* Every single one of these underground constructions had windows, large squared glass that permitted to see beyond it. Although, for the most part, she would only see the sea or more dirt. "This place is really weird." She thought out loud.

Finally, she reached the garage, a room with several fixing tools, extreme gears stocked to the wall, each with their own code (probably ordered by number of bill). In heavy contrast to the rest of the construction, it looked like it was made of wood, like a cottage, instead of a futuristic house or something. Beyond that room, was a small shop, probably were Tails talked with his clients.

The room had stair, as well, but she decided to go through the door that led. It led outside of the construction, taking her to the outside. There was a small stone floor with a water pond on the side. Looking beyond there, she noticed a flat road, with palm trees at the sides, ending on a cliff. She looked at the house, a square construction that had a normal entrance at the side and a metal door at its front, on the center of the door was a pair of tails design, identical to the builder of the house. Above the square construction, was a small cottage looking construction, shaped like a little house and a round construction at the back, what she could only assume was a telescope laboratory.

Looking further from the house, she recognized the place, she was in Mystic Ruins, however it was a lot less grassy and many dried trees and such. It wasn´t nearly as natural as before. "Guess things really changed for the worse **."** She tried walking, trying to explore further… and soon stopped dead on her tracks, when she felt a certain restrain like feeling coming from her right arm. And she remembered how Tails made sure to keep her in check. *Craptastic!*

Suddenly, an engine was heard, a small round car had arrived below the stairs that lead to this cliff. And emerging from it, came both Cream and Gemerl.

"Cream! Gemerl!" Wave shouted earning their attention.

"Wave!" Cream ran the stair up, getting to her as fast as she could. Wave couldn't get any closer, so she had to wait for her.

They shared a hug, remaining silent for a moment. After that, they just remained holding each other, while meeting eyes. Cream was taller, at her same size, the hair between her ears had grown forming a spiked lump of hair, bigger than her mom's ever was. There was nothing suggestive about her clothing, a plain blue jean with a sleeveless orange blouse. She brought a big, white purse, like, the size of her torso. However, easily the flashiest thing about Cream was her chest. It was big, like Rouge size, and like her, she had a nice slim figure from what Wave could tell.

"…You are well endowed." Wave answered in a bit of awe.

Cream just let go of an air. "That happens when you grow up." She commented lightly. "Thought I don't know how Rouge does her stealth stuff with these, let alone on heels."

"Guess I have nothing to envy then." Wave commented. The girls separated, and Gemerl got closer. In heavy contrast to the friendly vibes between Cream and Wave, you could notice instantly that they have mixed feelings between the one and the other.

"Wave." Was all Gemerl said in some kind of stare down match.

"Gemerl." Wave answered in a same way.

*Oh my god.* Cream thought, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly, Wave felt a yank and fell to the floor, face first. Now Gemerl was laughing at her. "I will kill that bastard!" She said, although it was muffled since she didn't lift herself from the floor.

Cream didn't lose any time to help her standing up again. "I think we better talk with Tails before." She suggested, and then started walking toward Tails house.

"Don't think I will follow you two with that psycho." Gemerl told her. Cream didn't even stop or look at him, just continuing her way.

"Ok." She said, moving closer to Tails´ house.

"Wait, just like that?" Gemerl said, in tone of surprise. Neither girl answered him.

Wave found it a bit weird how cold Cream was treating Gemerl, it seemed out of character from her. She remembered how she was told that everyone had changed and was suddenly concerned about how much she might have actually changed.

*Don't go. Don't go. Don't go… I will be damned.* Gemerl tried to convince himself to not go with the girls, but his legs would not let him have his way. The girls were inside the house already when Gemerl entered. "Just in case, I should come along."

They rapidly entered the underground, reaching the kitchen… suddenly, Gemerl started buzzing, falling to the floor. "What the!?" Wave panicked, taking a little of distance while trying to see what just happened. Her eyes caught something white and small thing moving away from the robot. "Is that a Mouse?!" Wave shouted, with incredulity. Wave was about to panic even further with the idea of the place being infested, until she noticed how a square from the wall removed itself from it, the mouse went into the wall and then the square returned to its original position, leaving no trace of the removable square. Wave froze for a moment, trying to process what just happened.

"I have tons of robots like that working in the night to tidy up this place. It would be hell to keep this place clean by myself." Tails answered, holding his head with a hand and the elbow above the sink of the kitchen.

"Why?! How?! When?!" Was all Wave could ask.

"Her idea." Tails answered, pointing out Cream. Wave only gulped. "I asked her to come here to help me with something and she asked that in return." He continued.

"That was not the only thing I asked in return." Cream answered.

Tails looked at her with surprise, not expecting that answer, thought understanding what she was implying. "Right here? Right now?" Tails asked truthfully.

"Right here right now." She answered quickly.

Tails then opened the door of a small cabinet, containing a tiny fridge and from it pulled out a bottle of whiskey. Right now, Wave's pupils were the tiniest possible. Tails then put the bottle in the table while he continued to open another shelf. "Give me a minute to get you a glass…" Tails continued, looking away and, by the time he turned around, Cream had already grabbed the bottle and started drinking from it without any care or concern. "…Or you can drink it like that if you feel like it." He answered, squinting his eyes.

Now Wave's mouth was agape. Then, Cream, who was still drinking from the bottle, suddenly opened her eyes with a scowl. She then checked the bottle carefully and its insides. "This was not nearly full!" She answered, with some anger.

"I am not giving you a full bottle here." Tails answered.

"But…" Cream was trying to answer but Tails didn't let her.

"I am not letting you get drunk in my house. Get as drunk as you want in yours, not mine. I am not even going to risk it." He answered. "Plus, I think a certain girl needs to understand what is going on." Tails pointed his finger at Wave.

Wave, on her side of the room, was violently pulling her braids down, hands shaking from the strength she was using and looking like she was about to blow up or something. "… I think she is taking it worse than Amy did." Cream commented, surprised at her reaction.

"To be fair, she is the only one who has a justification for taking it poorly." Tails admitted, tilting his head a bit to the sides.

"What the Fuck!" Wave finally burst. "HOW COULD YOU BE DRINKING?! AND GETTING DRUNK SO EASILY?! I MEAN, YOU ARE EIGHTEEN AT MOST RIGHT NOW?! HOW MANY TIMES HAD YOU GOTTEN DRUNK?! WITHWHOM?!WHATAREYOUDOINGWITHYOURLIFEYOUAREBETTERTHANTHISWHATWOULDYOURMOMTHINK" Wave ranted faster and faster, until all they could understand was some incomprehensible gibberish.

"Wave, call down." Cream tried to appeal to her rational side.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" The swallow shouted. Suddenly, Tails put a hand on her shoulder and pressed. Wave immediately felt weakness on her legs, not able to support her and falling on her butt. In another swift move, he snatched her holo pendant, ripping the delicate string from her neck. She weakly flailed at him, but that obviously wasn't enough. "What… did you…" She tried to ask, weakly.

"Pressure point. I could have knocked you unconscious if I wanted. Should pass away soon." He said, while putting his bracelet on Cream´s arm.

"Why are you… taking it?" She asked, still somewhat dizzy. Cream went to her side and helped her to stand up.

"I am going to erase certain video." He answered while walking away.

"Are you…fucking…kidding me?" She asked with anger, most of the dizziness gone.

"Noup." He answered, opening the metal door and leaving the kitchen. There was an awkward silence after that.

"Well, that just happened." Cream commented, with little emotion. Almost as if she had seen it happen over and over again.

"WE ARE NOT DONE HERE LITTLE GIRL!" Wave spat.

"Wave, I am eighteen now. I have legal age to work, to drink and to have sex. Don't make a mountain out of a pimple." Cream answered with sass, crossing her arms over her chest.

However, Wave took it the worst way possible. "How many guys?! Or girls?! Or unspecified genders?!"

"Oh my Chaos." Cream sighed, face palming. However, she then grabbed some air, trying to calm herself and to start over. "Look, I know dropping the bomb like this was not the best way to handle things."

"Like at all!" Wave shouted.

"But this happened with a lot of people, at times at public. I just wanted to get over with it as fast as I could."

"But why?"

"Because life is shit at times and you just want to escape, if at least for a moment." Cream explained. Wave blinked, worried because she actually understood where Cream was going on. She was also aware that this was a Cream without her mom, so that was likely adding to the problem. "You understand that, don't you?" Cream asked, putting a little baby face. She knew she wasn't as cute as before but she still knew how to exploit her looks on people.

Wave was more affected by her words than her looks. She sighed. "Just be careful, ok?"

"No problem." Cream stated, putting her cutest smile. "So, are you ready to leave?" Cream asked.

"Where to?" Wave asked.

"Didn't Tails tell you anything?" Cream asked. Wave just squinted her eyes, telling her that her question was dumb. "Of course he didn't." She answered herself, in a tone that confirmed that it was a dumb question. "He asked me to accompany you to buy clothing." Cream answered, pulling out a credit card.

Wave lifted an eyebrow, taking the card. "I can spend all I want?" She asked with disbelief.

"The more you spend, the more I will take from your payments." Wave jumped out of surprise, as she was sure that was Tails voice, but he was supposed to have already left the room. But the voice came just at her side. The origin of his voice was actually a mousebot.

"Chaos damnit Tails!" Wave shouted, lashing at the mouse but it was too fast for her.

"Your soul belongs to meeeee!" Tails´ mouse answered, leaving and hidden back to the wall again.

"HOW CAN YOU GUYS LIVE WITH HIM?!" Wave sounded like she was about to rip her feathers out of her head

"Don't let him get under your skin that much." Cream answered. She then pulled out some clothes from her purse. It was a one piece full body skin tight suit, purple colored with yellow stripes on the knees and elbows. It had a zipper that closed until the neck. It looked like a formula racer uniform. "I imagine that's your only set of clothing right now." Cream answered. She noticed how Wave was now blushing from this fact.

* * *

 _Sometime later._

"And that´s when I discovered that the guy I was crushing… was gay."

"Geez, that´s bad luck." Wave commented back, not sounding that interested. She didn't want to give the impression that she wasn't paying attention, but she wasn't.

Buying clothes wasn't exactly her cup of tea, she didn't hate it, but Cream was more interested in buying clothes. Like right now: Wave was just standing there while Cream tried a dress. It was a pink dress that reached to her things, with a wide hole that exposed the a bit of rabbit´s back, for sexiness.

However, Cream seemed to pull and twitch the dress in various ways, not looking satisfied with it. "What's the matter?"

"Breasts too tight." Cream answered, letting her arms fall. Wave only let go an amused air. Cream entered in the cloth changer place. A little while later, she said. "Wave, could you come in?"

"Why? Does your big things not let you take the dress off?" Wave joked, thinking that wasn't likely the case.

"Just… get in." Cream answered. From what Wave could deduce, she was flustered. Wave entered and… that was exactly the case. She was having trouble able to pull the dress over her boobs. Wave froze a bit when she entered, feeling difficulty to not laugh at her struggles. "Did you have to joke so loud for everybody to hear?!" Cream said, clearly ashamed.

Wave only smiled: it felt good to see she had still some modesty. "Come, I will help you." Wave answered. However, Cream flinched when she tried to reach at her, to Wave surprise. There was some emotion on her eyes, but Wave couldn't quite determinate what was behind them. "Look, do you want my help or not?" The swallow answered, getting a little annoyed by her reaction. Cream looked uneasy, but nodded, before letting her touch the shirt.

Cream was right, for whatever reason; fully pulling the dress up was difficult from her body. Wave stood on her tips, trying to pull the clothing with Cream pushing it upwards. There were starting to make effort noises but the dress was not ready to give in. Finally, the dress came out, with a *fussss* sound. Cream actually hit the floor and Wave hit the door of the cloth changer from the strength they were using. "There. Now, that wasn't too…" Wave started, trying to light up the mood. However, she was then taken aback by the three large cuts on her backs, long scarred, but three cuts none the less. That made her blood freeze in the instant.

Before Wave could question her, a low smack came from the door that was just behind the Swallow.

"Is there a problem?" A female voice asked outside the changing room.

Wave opened the door, just slightly enough to expose her head. The anthro calling them out was a female dog woman with police clothes. "Hey, we were just having some trouble with tight clothes. We will be getting out in a minute." She said in her most easy going voice.

"All right, but lower the noise or I will have to take you on *sex act*. God know I haven't had one of those in a while." The cop gives them the back, grumping her way out.

Wave sighed when the cop was far enough and turned to Cream. She couldn't confirm the scars since Cream had already put her old clothing back. "…Who or what did that?" Her voice was low and menacing.

"You don't need it." Cream replied.

"Are you kidding me?!" She wanted to scream and her tone gave that impression, but she kept a low volume to avoid upsetting more people. "You have three claw scars on your back and you are telling me to forget it?! Who did it? When? Hasanyonedoneanythingaboutit?!" As usual, the more upset Wave became, the faster she talked. And she was beginning to get louder. Cream had to put her hand on the bird´s beak to stop her.

"I know you won't listen but don't feel guilty about it. Life is like this, you get hurt and, sometimes, you are not able to heal properly. And that's ok. The sooner we get it over the sooner we can concentrate in better things." Cream talked. She sounded motherly, patronizing, caring, but also practiced. As if…

"How many people have asked the same?" Wave asked.

"Little sister of the group, remember?" Cream answered. "Now let´s see if there is anything better out here to wear." Cream continued, taking the lead and leaving the changing room.

"Tails didn't have a single scar." Wave pondered.

Cream stopped dead on her tracks. Wave actually crashed into Cream because of her sudden change of velocity, but none of them fell to the floor or anything. "What do you… mean?" Cream asked, with a knowing smile. A shit eating grin, to be precise.

Wave needed a minute, unable to hide her nervousness form her face. "He was shirtless yesterday." She thought she had thought it through.

"Oh, My!" Cream said, with mocked surprise, the grin never leaving.

"He just came out of his room, shirtless! Nothing else!" She panicked a bit.

"Of course."

"Changing subject. Like, where did you get this from?" Wave asked, touching the racer clothing she had given her. It was a surprisingly good fit: tight but not suffocating and it highlighted her little curves and hourglass figure.

"It belonged to a friend. You might have met her: She is a purple fire cat princess from another dimension. She kind of reminds me of you." Cream was confident that the likeliness of Wave meeting Blaze was slim. She should have known better.

"Excuse me?!" Wave snapped. "I am nothing like her!" Wave replied. Cream only laughed to herself, giving her the back. "Hey!"

* * *

 _Back at Tails´ home_

Tails typed on the computer. At a side, was Wave´s pendant inside of a machine that put green light surrounding the object, analyzing it. He was checking everything in it, every bit of information stored that could shed any light in to whoever had affected her. He found images of the Thorndykes (he shed some tears for his lost Friends), he found photos of these bandage wearing versions of his friends, the knight versions, the smaller versions (He recognized the younger Sonic that had help them in the past), etc. He found most worlds that they talked about and a few more that they didn't but nothing really incriminatory.

Well, right now, he had all the images there were in the pendant in his main computer. With the introduction of a few keys, he instructed the big computer to search for any anomaly that it could find. There, now he should have a relaxing afternoon right now while Cream distracted Wave. He inclined his chair, put his foot on the table, sighed and prepared for a nap. That was when a loud crash coming from behind him. Tails didn't shake one bit from his position, only sighing, inclined his head further to look at whatever that was. As expected, Gemerl had taken down the wall behind me.

"Really? I have doors you know!" Tails complained, annoyed that he damaged a perfectly fine wall.

"You don't get to whine Tails! You are constantly damaging me and paralyzing me. Not any…" Gemerl started, ready to lash out. But the fox didn't care enough, as he started looking away. To make even more emphasis on the situation, Tails put headsets on. "Oh no, you…" The robot started again, only to be attacked by another mouse bot and put down by it. Tails continued on his computer, already knowing that the bot was down.

* * *

 _Back to Wave and Cream_

"Confirmed. Cute couple." The mechanical voice expressed as the bird woman and the rabbit passed.

Cream hold Wave´s arm, both of their arms locked by the opposite area of the elbow, while leaning to her, like a couple cuddling, all while maintaining a dreamingly looking face: eyelids half closed and a satisfied smile.

Wave played the part, thought you could notice the blush and the uneasiness on her face. "Did we just pretend we are a couple just to enter into Twinkle Park?" Wave whispered.

"Free entrance." Cream said, somewhat, in a similar happy lover mode.

"You realize it was just $15 the couple, don't you?"

"Do you have your **own** fifteen dollars?"

Wave remained silent for the next few seconds. "…How come the nicest guy I have met since my return was Shadow?"

"Life takes weird turns, doesn't it?" Cream admitted. She finally abandoned the posture of latching to Wave, changing it to taking the Swallow´s hand and dragging her a bit toward the amusement park. "Now you can spend those $15 on something nice for me." Cream said.

Wave was dragged a bit by her, but she followed soon. "Whatever." Wave answered.

Cream´s objective was for Wave to have some fun, probably because Tails wasn't going to make things easy for her. What she wasn't expecting was to have much fun herself. They pretty much went to every fun ride:

They started at a dart shooting gallery. It became a surprising draw between the girls as both girls obtained perfect scores. They tried the strength hammer thingy: Cream actually managed to hit the bell with little problem, although her ears were probably not a fair advantage in the game. Bumper cars, dance machines, go karts, they spent a fun afternoon and part of the evening. But no alcohol drinks. Wave wouldn't let her. The final attraction they used was a photo booth, getting five photos making silly faces and such. Soon, they returned to Cream´s car. They were laughing at their own photo and their faces.

"Look at that face!" Cream laughed.

"Hey, I happen to like how I look there." Wave chuckled, also finding the photo amusing. She noticed however that Cream had a bit of a sad smile on her face. "What´s the matter? It is there a problem?" Wave asked. She thought they were having fun, why would she be upset?

"Huh, no it's not that. It just, been a while since I have this much fun. Felt like a kid again for a sec." Cream admitted, with a bit sad, but her most honest smile so far.

"… I know that feeling." Wave admitted. Cream looked at her attentively. "Do you remember when you somehow convinced me to accompany in rose cutting?"

"You wined all the way to the garden. But once there, you remained very interested in the duty." Cream commented. "The same happened with the cake baking."

"We got covered in frosting and flour the whole time." They chuckled at the memory. "Or that week at the snow."

"I don't think I had ever seen anyone lash out to snow like that!" Cream remembered fondly, while Wave had to hide a blush that she was thankful Cream didn't point out.

"My point is, I never did things like that as a kid. Training, exercise, fighting, learning to be a mechanic and then sleep. Never time for fun. Even as a rogue I was the serious and mature one." She looked at the horizon, almost as if she was able to see herself, in her past, struggling in whatever way she could to get forward, to be something in life. She then looked at Cream. "I think the time I spent with you were the only times I felt like how a kid is supposed to feel. I am happy it came full circle." Wave finished.

Cream smile grew a bit, feeling moved by Wave´s answer. "I am glad. Growing in an army can't be easy." Cream admitted.

"But it gave me character." Wave said with her sass.

"It certainly did." Cream said

"What is that supposed to mean?" Wave answered. A second later both had a small laughter.

It was now that Cream went to her car and grabbed a small box from it. "Speaking of full circle…" She handed the small book at her. Wave lifted an eyebrow, before opening it. She gasped when she did, putting a hand on her beak.

Inside of it, were her sunglasses, the ones that she gave Cream. The glasses were battered, only kept together thanks to some duct take on various areas, one of the lens was the original but was ridiculously cracked, though still, it was the original while the other lens was fine, but different. It was clear that Cream wanted to preserve it.

Wave remained still observing her sunglasses. She put a finger on them, around them, on them, inspecting them, making sure everything was right. She tried to find some problem; she wanted to find something that would say these weren't the same glasses. But she found nothing. "Is this some kind of joke?!" Wave snapped, with a viciousness Cream hadn't seen before.

Cream knew the glasses would have a big effect on Wave, but this wasn't in her range of expectation. "Wave, this is no joke, I tried…" Cream lifted both hands, to show she was inoffensive, but Wave wasn't listening.

"Don't lie to my!" Wave was losing it, violently grabbing Cream shirt. It was now that Wave was surprised by Cream´s reaction: She froze, completely still, her pupils becoming tiny because of the surprise. This finally served to wake up the swallow, forcing her to take a few steps back. "I am sorry. I am sorry." Her voice was small, broken. Her legs weakened, needing a moment to take everything in. Wave fell on her knees, bursting into tears and whimper.

There, that was a more expected reaction in the eyes of Cream. But the rabbit was hesitant. She wanted to give her support, not let it for her alone, but that last gesture really shook her.

Finally arming herself with courage, she just ran at her side and tried to offer her support, but letting her cut loose. Meanwhile, Wave repeated the same sentence in a whisper. "Ten Years. Ten Years."

Ten years. Ten years away from the people she cared about. Ten years of experience, heartbreak, pain, but also happiness, fun and things she wouldn't forget. Ten years, watching people change, grow up, struggle, become better persons. Ten years in which Cream, Tails and Charmy went to from little naïve kids into adults or at least that was supposed to be: instead, the three of them were ended more messed up than it should be permitted. Ten years, she was never getting back. Ten years. Ten years.

* * *

Author note: This chapter was surprisingly hard to write. I wanted to put more details into Cream´s and Wave fun day, but I simply couldn´t. The same went to how Tails would deal/torture Gemerl but that felt like I was wasting time and felt like it would undercut the more "emotional" moments. I also was dying to have something new uploaded. Maybe in the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year.


	14. Shedding some light

Tails had reached his kitchen, hoping to grab a drink from his fridge. He sighed blissfully. *Another calm day in my life.* He thought. He opened the door of the fridge, only to find a certain black and orange robot inside, pointing him with a machine-gun arm.

"Okay! No more playing around! No more…" Gemerl monologue, never lowering the gun. Tails paid him no heed, instead, he grabbed a green bottle with a skull from the door compartment of the bridge, opened it with his thumb and spilled a bit of it's contains on the robots eyes, a hiss of melting sound started immediately. "Gyaaaaaahhhh!" Gemerl shouted in pain, while firing his gun wildly. Tails just ducked, knowing that it was likely shooting upward, took a still standing instant soup cup and closed the door again, leaving the robot there.

"Now, where is that kettle?" Tails said, ignoring the gunshots flying everywhere.

 _Sometime later_

Miles wasn't a big fan of videogames about war: fight in real wars for most of your life and you will likely understand him. However, he had to admit there was something satisfying about just sitting one day for a while and mindlessly shoot at whatever digital opponent he had in front. Playing in one of his consoles with a wireless controller, with quite a loud volume, he lost himself into the game.

"Ok Miles, enough playing around!" Gemerl stated, but the fox didn't listen. "Hey! One, two, one, are you awake?!" He shouted. But still no reaction. He even fired his machine gun to the sky, but a machine gun from the game also roared, so Tails did not even notice. "Damnit Fox!" He said, putting the hot machine gun on his face, finally getting a reaction, the feeling of a burn finally snapping him from the game.

"Gemerl, that was unnecessary." Tails screamed, trying to pet his burnt part of the face, but only made the pain worse. Then a loud gun shot was heard, getting the fox attention. On the monitor in front of him, the screen turned red, as his soldier fell on his knees and to the floor." You made me lose." Tails complained.

"Believe me, that won't matter in a second!" He answered. At that instant, however, Tails gave him a soft tap with his controller. Gemerl stood still for a moment, bewildered. "…Are you kidding me?" The robot said lowly. Tails then moved the right stick to the left, making Gemerl turn around 180 degrees in that direction. "The fuck?!" Gemerl asked. Tails then moved the the left stick, forcing the bot to move against his will. "Shiiiiiittttt!" He exclaimed, unable to resist. Before long, Tails took him outside of his construction and sent him down a cliff. "Fuck youuuuuuuu!"

"There is that." He said, returning to his house.

 _Sometime later again._

Tails wore a monocle, helping him discern between the small pieces of the board. He was nearly done: he had changed the lubricant, changed some of its inner system to empower its acceleration as ordered and now, he just needed to put an energy compensator and a cooling systems, to balance the changes he added, connect them correctly and he would be ready to get his payment. *Just a little movement here.* He thought, using forceps to pull the wire on its proper place. Once finished, he turned it on, the engine sounding low and correctly. "Like the purr of a kitty." He said, this extreme gear ready.

Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows and on a higher place, Gemerl waited for his opportunity. He wanted to just go there and threaten Tails again, but the last chance he had gave him a good idea: Attack him when he is distracted or not expecting it. So, he opened his inner compartments, revealing his small missiles, ready to launch them. A second later, two went flying across the room into his general direction. *They shouldn't kill him. I think.*

*ALERT! INCOMING!" An alarm blared on. However, Tails wouldn't be able to react to the missiles, looking at the roof in panic since he couldn't guess where the missiles were coming. Luckily, he didn't need it: from one of the walls, a square piece moved, freeing a shadow bot that came to intercept the missiles. Miles hadn't painted it yet, his only color was brilliant silver. It also had a machine gun instead of a left arm.

The Shabot received all the missiles, damaged enough that it fell on the floor on its back. Tails only saw how the bot fell, after hearing the explosions. When the Shabot fell, its machine gun was triggered, shooting several bullets. Appropriately panicked, he went to the wall and put himself in a way where it would be less likely that the bullets would hit him. "Damnit." Gemerl cursed to itself, still, he thought that his best opportunity now would be running to the fox as fast as it could. He was however, stopped by other shabots, grabbing all his extremities, each using their free hands to land punches on Gemerl. "Sunnuva…" Gemerl growled. He trying using his spinning attack but even with it the Shabots wouldn't let him go.

"Restrain only." Tails roared, and the Shabots stopped their assault, but still refused to let Gemerl go. When the black and orange bot looked at the fox, noticing him passing his hand slowly on the extreme gear he had just finished. "It has gun shots." Tails said, his voice serious and monotonous.

*Gun shots?*Gemerl thought, until it landed on him. *The Shadow bot, the one I damaged first.* It was then that Gemerl knew, he was screwed.

"Gem, Gem, Gem." He started, moving his head to the sides. "We have been doing this mouse and cat game for quite a while now. I don't mind my house damaged that much." He said, moving closer to the Gemerl. He then put his hand on the robot´s head. His expression had been fairly normal so far, annoyed, but it was at the distance of a few inches, that it deformed: his pupils shrink into what it could only be described as the eyes of a mad man, a wicked smile exposing his canines for intimidation effect. Gemerl might be a robot, but even it jumped on his place because of the change. "But you should never mess with the Gears."

 _Back to Cream and Wave._

"Are you better?" Cream asked genuinely. Both friends were still on the car, just arriving at the Mystic Ruins.

"That's debatable." Wave asked, still looking somewhat depressed.

"C´mon, we got to get you to Tails." Cream said, starting to leave the car. She wasn't done when she noticed that Wave wouldn't move. Cream sighed, took her seat again, looking at Wave with concern. "What is the matter?"

"Can we just leave?" She answered, looking at the nothingness at first before looking at the rabbit. "You have his bracelet, we can just leave. Have my life somewhere else. I don't want to go back there. Please." Wave begged, her hands together, the desperation on her eyes very evident.

"You would turn into a monster anytime soon. Worse, if G.U.N finds you, they will gun you down." Cream reasoned.

"I am starting to care very little about that." She admitted.

Cream answer was a sigh, while putting her fingers around her nose. *Tails, we are going to talk about this bad boy persona you have formed.* "Wave, do you have any idea why Tails is helping you?" She asked.

This question took Wave of balance, the thought nor the question never really arriving until now. "…Because he wants to piss me off?" Wave thought. There was some seriousness in her answer, but definitely some satire too.

Cream chuckled at her answer. She then put her most serious face. "Wave, I am about to tell you something that Tails should never know you know. Do you think you can keep your mouth shut?" She asked, never dropping the seriousness on her tone or face.

"Who do you think I am?" Wave asked, as if Cream´s question offended her.

"A girl who loves to talk." Cream quipped back, earning a glare from Wave. It only made the rabbit´s smile bigger.

"Fine. Tails won´t know a word about this." She accepted.

Cream let go a hair, some nervousness came with her movements and demeanor. She opened her mouth, but then closed it again, as if she was about to step back. Finally, she took a last, big breath. "Look. This situation. This problem you have right now. It happened to one of my closest friends." Cream was somber, the words struggling to leave her mouth, her voice small. Wave only opened her eyes a lot, but didn't say anything, knowing that she wasn't done.

"She was, actually, a lot like me. When I just started going with Sonic and the others. Didn't have much confidence, felt like a damsel in distress for the most part. Like she didn't add anything to our friends. However, I am sure she realized her self-worth. How much she mattered to us… Before." Cream chocked up. She let go her head, only hanging because her body was stuck to it, tears starting to fall. It was obvious what she was trying to say.

Wave put a hand on the rabbit´s should, getting her to look at the swallow to the eyes. "I understand. I get it." Wave´s voice was low, comprehensible.

"I am not done yet." Cream admitted, wiping tears from her eyes. "The reason why this is so important for Tails. Is that she was his first girlfriend." Wave eyes shrink, a gulp coming next. No quip, no answer, no nothing, just silence. Even her mind was speechless.

"But what I want you to know is that he will never give up on you. No matter how evil he might see. He will never let that happen again. Not even if that person was his worst enemy." Cream ended.

"… Understood." Was all that Wave could say. But she really understood: she knew what it was to miss someone so bad.

Finally Cream left the car, knowing this time Wave would follow her and she wasn't disappointed. "Now remember, you know nothing about this." Cream said, still serious.

"I know, I know." Wave answered.

"I am very serious. If there is going to be a reason for Tails to rip your throat out it will be for her."

This stopped Wave´s march, eyeing the girl to see if she was joking or something, but nothing indicated that. "That's… too specific."

Before long, they arrived at the door of Tails house, knocking it.

*Door Alert. Door Alert* an alarm blared.

Tails lifted the mask for light protection he had on his face. On his right arm, he hold a whip made of electricity. In front of him, was Gemerl restrained by the arms and legs by Shabots. However, Tails had messed up with the robots extremities: somehow, they extended for over two meters, only connected by small part, sometimes metal pieces, others just wires. Even his torso was open, exposing its most sensible wires and systems.

"Oh, thank Chaos." If robots could shed tears, Gemerl would have rivers flowing down his head. There was happiness and desperation, with a bit of hope in his voice.

Tails answered by whipping his weapon at him one more time, letting the mask fall on his meant place. The moment the electricity made contact with the robot, a blinding light flashed, covering the robot, while he screamed at the top of his metal lungs, in agony. The fox then flicked his fingers: the robots let go of Gemerl, all his pieces returned to their meant places, without much noticeable damage other than burn marks. The icing on the cake was the robot mouse that came and, with more electricity, knocked Gemerl one last time.

Soon, he moved to the entrance of his building, followed by the Shabots, which carried the back bot. He opened the door and Cream was about to greet him, when the Shabots beat her to it, passed to the door, went down the stairs and introduced Gemerl to the car. There was a face of confusion on both girls, staring at Miles. "We had fun." He said, nonchalant.

He very well noticed how both girls had their eyes red and swollen, probably from having cried not that long ago. Wave was the first to enter, not wanting to talk to him yet. Cream started removing her bracelet, knowing she had to return it. "I will come frequently. And you, mister, need to stop being such a jerk." She demanded, while offering the bracelet. This got Wave´s attention, who eavesdropped at them from behind the door, only slightly open for her to look at what was going on.

"My house, my rules." Tails answered, nonchalant, trying to take the bracelet. But Cream actually put it away from his reach.

"I am serious about that. She also has crap on her life. We **all** get crap on our lives."

Cream was standing up to Tails pretty well: She was shorter than him; in skill sets, they were, more or less, equal, except that she was in his territory, his not-so-small fortress, full of machines that could easily kill her; plenty of their friends would chicken a bit down in a stare down against him; heck, he was the predator, she was the predated. Nevertheless, she stood firm, thought there was no sign of change in the fox face.

"…Fine." Tails answered, always maintaining eye contact. Cream finally handed the bracelet. Little after that, they started walking back to the exit. "Anything else, your highness?" He asked, with a bit of a joke, once she had crossed the door.

"Things would be simpler if you stopped acting like that." It sounded like she was begging.

"You make things sound so easy." Tails answered, waving at her. Once Cream was out of his sight, he closed the door returning. When Wave noticed it, she closed her door. She was still on his workshop, so she decided to distract herself with the boards he had, to conceal the fact she was spying on them.

When Tails entered, he passed Wave, almost as if she was not there. He moved to a door, where he put a palm on it. Instantly, a square appeared, a vertical line passed through it. The two just formed rectangles hid into the walls, revealing… "A fucking elevator?!" Wave answered with disbelief and anger. She threw accusing daggers at the fox.

He had a knowing smirk. "I imagined you would get tired of walking all those stairs. Although, to be fair, I also needed you to know where the stairs were. For an emergency." He explained.

"Shut up." She answered, unable to hide her anger.

"Come." Tails offered, gesturing her with his hand to enter the elevator. Wave was, naturally, against the idea, giving him the back. "You know, I only have one elevator and I can lock it out in any floor I want. To, you know, force you to use the stairs forever?" He explained, with, what else, a shit eating grin.

Noticing the swallow tightening her fist, he just observed as she marched down her way into the elevator, a vain popping on her forehead. Wasting no time, Tails touched the button that lead to the nursery. Once there, the first thing that they both noticed sent a chill down to Wave´s spine.

She jabbed the button´s on the elevator, but it refused to cooperate, cold sweat started to appear on her head. Meanwhile, Tails moved to the object, observing it, hitting it´s tip with his nail. After that, he smiled, knowing the object was the appropriated. He then looked at Wave, who looked like she was a second away from a heart attack, her chest rising and falling at incredible speeds, about to suffer hyperventilation.

Tails chuckled at the sight. "I didn't knew you were this afraid of needles or shots."

"I am terrified that **you** have the needle, not the needle itself!" She screamed in panic. "What is that? Are you going to sell my organs!?"

"It is for the whole monster transformation thingy. It is not a cure but it should slow it down. Don't want you tearing down everything in here. Now come, it won't last long." He said.

"Fuck you, you are not getting that thing close to me!" She answered. It looked like she was trying to push the wall even further than she already was.

Tails stood there for a second, observing, before he answered. "Ok." He said, putting a finger on his chin, in signal of thought. "Maybe I will attack your nerves again so you receive the shot without resistance. On the other hand, maybe I will do it in your sleep, where I will make sure it hurt you. Huuu, better yet, I could grab you in your sleep, put an anchor chained to your feet and throw you…"

"Okay, just hurry." Wave interrupted, sitting just at his side, annoyed. She also put the belt on her arm, meaning to help Tails find her veins. Tails smiled, knowing this was the result.

"Good for you." He said, while moistening cotton with alcohol and rubbing it into the area where the needle will enter. A few minutes later, the job was done, without much fuss or problem.

"There." Tails stated. After that, Wave wasted no time on getting the hell out of that room, removing the belt and throwing it carelessly. She entered the elevator. Each one of the buttons was labeled with a few letters on it, probably the initials of the floor it corresponded: Gym, Bar, Fun, Nur, Kit, Bed, etc. She pressed the bed one, knowing that it was, likely, the bedrooms. However, the elevator wouldn't activate. Impatiently, she started jabbing at the machine with no avail.

"Stop that." Suddenly, just at her side, she heard Tails talking. Wave frost for a bit, before turning to him slowly. He was really stealthy. He then touched a bottom between the others, one without any label. At the other side of the elevator a square appeared. However, Wave could easily see that it was a tactile detector. "Put your hand there, and make sure it catches all your fingertips."

*Should have expected this.* She thought, starting to remove the gloves from her hand. However, Tails stopped her from doing so.

"It can detect your fingertips even with gloves on. I didn't remove mine and it works fine."

Wave looked at him with surprise. Putting back her glove, she put both hands, the machine recognizing her as a new user. Finally, she pressed the bed button once again and it obeyed without any issue. As they went down, she couldn't help but ask. "Compensating much?" She asked, with a smirk.

"What can I say? I am still angry for never finding however messed with my boards in the first two Grand Prixes." He said, nonchalant, thought Wave winced at the mention, thought she was sure he didn't notice. "Plus, if someone tries some trick like using gloves to trick the machine, it wouldn't be tricked."

"Fantastic." She stated, trying to get to her room to rest for a bit.

"Hey." Tails called her. Wave rolled her eyes, mumbling about what could he want now. The fox however, looked a bit, flustered. "Thanks, for accompanying Cream. She needs more friends she can be herself with."

"… If her quote on quote, friends, supported her, she wouldn't need them." She answer, with more anger and frustration than she intended.

"I know." He answered, with real weight on it: it wasn't a snarky reply or a joke, it sounded serious. "Old habits die hard." He ended.

"Little brothers and sisters?" Wave commented.

"Little brothers and sisters." Tails repeated.


	15. Shenanigans 1

_Edit(21/1/19):_

 _Minor change near the end. I simply diminished Wave's reaction. I felt very proud when I just finished that bit and I uploaded it immediately, but I keep having second guesses about her. It just feels I am making her too weak. I mean, things are difficult right now for her and Tails is a bit of an asshole, but it does feel inappropriate. Even right now I am not sure if it is how I want it, but I would rather continue the story. So, there is that._

"TAAAAAIIIIILLLLSSSS!" Wave shouted. Just a moment ago, the swallow filled her lungs with as much air as possible, permitting her to release a powerful screech, only comparable to those of the hawks (and probably more since Jet couldn't scream like her). Yet, the fox just turned on his bed, refusing to wake up. "Damnit." She said.

It was early in the morning, as Wave intended. She hoped to seize the day as much as possible. However, even with the elevator, she couldn't get to the gym as she wanted. For some reason, the bracelet connected to her wouldn't let her get that far away. Wave growled. She tried to yank hard enough until he woke up and searched for her, probably pissed, but that would solve the problem. Nevertheless, she had no such luck. Therefore, she decided to find him and discovered that he had a seriously heavy sleep.

He just slept there, not even snoring, oblivious of the world away. He looked very peaceful, almost like the child that Wave once knew: innocent, approachable, sweet even. However, she did not really care about that. *What else can I do to wake him up?* She thought. His room wasn't any different from hers, just having the general things around. Not much to use, *But maybe enough.*

So, she took the radio, put it somewhat away from the fox and twisted its wires. She then turned it on, while she put her hands on her ears to block as much noise as possible. The explosion was small and the shrapnel shouldn't be able to hit the fox. The sound, however, finally got the desired reaction, as the fox rose his head from the bed, followed by a loud gasp, almost like he just came from being underwater.

The next thing the fox did completely took the swallow by surprise: He introduced his hand into the pillow, but the thing that came out on its place was some kind of red and yellow arm cannon. And the first thing he does with it is shoot at everything and nothing, each bolt leaving a burnt mark in the walls that it hit, one coming after the other with no signal of stopping soon. Wave ducked, really thinking that she should have thought this more. Since the shots were not diminishing, she risked rising her head.

"Tails, damnit, it is just me." Wave said, rising both her hands in signal of being disarmed, worry and concern all over her face. And watching Tails only made this grew.

He gritted his teeth, breathing ragged and heavily, his face messy. But the freakiest part was his eyes: they were beastly, a single line that highlighted this, their color changed from the baby blue, to a green, for whatever reason. They didn't show warm or cold, instead, they showed terror, like a caged animal or an animal that was put against a corner, wounded, which only option was to attack with everything or die.

The next few seconds felt eternal, matching stares, beastly stares against just scared stares. Tails observed, ragged, out of control, a single movement and he would have pulled the trigger at this point. But there was something calling his attention: blue, blue as the sea, blue as the sky. They were pretty and flashy, but they were also concerned, worried, caring. Not for them, but for what was in front of him.

His breathing slowed down a bit, the color of the eyes returning to normal. Wave let go a held air, believing she was safe. Then the face in front of her turned into anger, pointed the cannon at her and started charging it down. It took a second longer than any of the previous shots, giving Wave just enough time to duck and dodge it. A second later, she got back up, still looking scared, trying to trace the fox every movement. However, Tails was giving her the back, opened his wardrobe… and complained.

"You made me shoot my clothes."

Wave blinked, too astonished too process that instantly. After that, she answered with her more expected anger. "YOU TRIED TO SHOT ME IN THE HEAD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"RIGHT BACK AT YA, BITCH! YOU DON'T WAKE UP SOMEWHAT WITH PTSD WITH AN EXPLOSION!" Tails answered with a scream.

"YOU REFUSED TO WAKE UP!" She answered.

"THAT DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT?... WHY DID YOU EVEN NEEDED ME AWAKE FOR?"

"BECAUSE THIS STUPID WRIST THING OF YOURS IS NOT LETTIMG ME GET TO THE GYM!"

Tails lifted his eyebrow, and then lifted the white and blue bracelet. He touched it, checking the length and, as she said, the length had been shortened just a few meters. "Chaos Damnit Cream." He puffed with anger, barely audible. The rabbit probably thought that Wave would be easier to handle if she couldn't get too far away from her. He corrected it quickly. "There. Problem solved." He said.

It was at this moment that he checked Wave out. She was workout ready, wearing tight black workout leggings and a tight workout night blue bra. She also changed her white bandana for a white sweatband, covering her head. There was not much to talk about, since she usually whore small shirt/bra/top/whatever you wish to call it and show her flat abdomen, much less considering he had to undress her to change her into the hospital gown. Not much new to write about.

"Would you stop looking at me like I am a piece of meat?!" Wave snapped, snapping him out of his bubble. He just awkwardly turned around, no words at all.

Wa-was I checking her out like that for how long?* the thought ran through his head, going to the TV remote to find out what time it was.

"Geez, I can imagine you haven't been with a real woman, like ever, but keep it together beast kid." She said, while leaving through the metal door.

At that moment, Tails was finally able to turn on the TV, and gaped at the time it said. "It is not even 7 AM! That girl is nuts!" He shouted. He threw his body to the bed again, hoping to get more sleep. However, not only had Wave scared away any sleep that might have remained, but also a very problematic thought kept going on his mind. A troublesome thought that was gonna bring him more problems than it was worth it.

Don't think about it. Forget that Wave is down there. Working out… Sweating… Ragged of air… Maybe gr- NO, bad Tails, bad Tails.* The young fox battle the thoughts that kept rushing his head, but it was a losing battle. Some minutes went by before Tails finally gave up. He took the controller and turned on his TV, which was connected to every security camera in the structure. He could spy on her in the commodity of his bed.

A few more button presses and the screen divided in several smaller rectangles, each watching a different room, no area should be out of its reach, key word being should. Four of the smaller screens were off, completely black. Tails opened his eyes a lot, but he knew who was probably guilty of this. "Smart girl." Tails praised.

He could go and confront the woman, but he felt that wasn't an option: if he did it, not only would it mean he spied on her, but, somehow, it felt right for Wave to do this, since Miles hadn't been all that good to her. It felt justified. That didn't mean he would let her just like that.

Sometime later

"Cmon!" Wave growled. She had her eyes closed, biting her lower beak, bullets of sweat appearing on her body, her sweatband moisted with it. Her legs burned, struggling to push the press. She was only a few reps away from finishing, but her legs refused to respond. She took a deep breath, winced further and forced her legs to finish the movement. "Thirteen, four…teen, fif-fif…teen." She puffed air, barely able to finish the rep. After that, she was able to lock the weights, finally taking a deserved moment for air.

She was looking forward to continue her exercise: the place had just about everything she could have wanted, workout away from the fox and get tired so she could finally sleep properly. Sleep was still irregular for her, having too much to think right now. Sometime alone, without thinking too hard at anything and keeping her good looks as a bonus. There was nothing to lose for her. Then, the fox appeared, just walking away, without putting her any mind. However, the Swallow noticed the how the tank top had a huge, burnt hole in the middle. And she couldn't help but poke fun at the fact.

"What a fashion statement!" She joked, adding a whistle at the end.

Tails answered by turning around with a slide, inclining his torso slightly while putting both arms at the sides, showing off the hole completely, while trying to put a serious, but sexy face. He was completely failing at it. "Tails Collection. For your crazy people." Tails used his deeper voice, almost like an actual clothing commercial, but it came ridiculous, earning a fit of laughter from the swallow. Tails chuckled, satisfied, before continuing his way.

Wave decided to ignore the fox, since that what he was doing with her. He had gone to some other part of the room, where she couldn't see him. She could only hear some plates clashing with one another, too distant from each other to be some kind of set. However, after a good half an hour, there was a strong short earthquake, accompanied by a loud *Booom*. Wave almost fell from the machine, thankful that it was unloaded, or it would have been dangerous.

Now what is that crazy motherfucker doing?!* Wave couldn't stop the thought, storming into were the fox was.

There he was, laying on his face on a puddle of… something transparent; his fur was darker, completely drenched while producing a smell of a wet dog. He was out of breath, repeatedly heaving, his eyes closed, looking quite out of energy. The weirdest part however, was that all his limbs were chained to a ball labelled with 100kg. Wave wasn't sure what to think about the sight in front of her. She didn't have to, as the fox used his arms to lift his body, sit on the floor and grab a nearby bottle of water. He drank it full. It was then that he noticed the Swallow.

"Were you working out when I dropped?" He asked.

"Yeah! I was!" She answered shouting.

Tails just eyed her, from toes to head. "You seem fine." He deadpanned.

"I am lucky I am fine! What are you even doing here?!"

"Give me a minute and I will show you."

"I would rather just being told." Wave answered.

Tails put a frown for her answer. "… I am exercising my tails."

"Why?"

"Because the line between victory and failure, dead or life, is defined by how much weight I can take with these tails and for how long." He deepened his voice, and the swallow could not help but think he was quoting someone, at least partially.

"Do you need to inflate your ego that badly?" She sneered.

"You would now." Tails answered back.

"Is that the only muscle you train?"

"It is the only one I really need." He admitted. "Just so you know, I hold for around 20 minutes."

"Showing off?"

"I just wanted to make sure you would not hold a bar or something and got hurt. But whatever." He answered.

He then started spinning his Tails again, letting it lift his full body. He gained altitude, until the chains to the balls tensed. He winced when it happened, but kept up the struggle, the weights also gaining altitude. Wave started leaving at that moment, not interested in whatever he was doing anymore. She still checked what time it was, taking the fox suggestion.

Around two hours later.

"Are you ready for work?" Tails turned his head at the swallow, with a smile.

"I am not your worker." Wave answered, arms crossed, looking pissed.

"Well, I am not maintaining you for free." He answered. They arrived to his workshop. "Look, I know if we work together, we are going to probably butt heads, so we will be working in different tables. I took some time yesterday to put a table nearby an EG shelf. I have a list of the problems assigned according to the number of boards. There shouldn't be a big problem." He explained, while walking to his side of the room.

Wave did the same, going to a large workbench of the room, at her left side, a large shelf of metal at her side. The shelf was divided in several squares, the majority holding an extreme gear in its luggage mode. She grabbed one of the boards and put it on the bench. The moment she did it, the whole upper part of the table lit in a color blue. The swallow yapped in surprise, taking a step back, but it was short lived. The only thing the light did was lift the metal box, making it take the standard shape of the extreme gear. The interesting part, however, was the fact that the board was floating about two inches away from the table.

Wave put a finger on the board, feeling completely weightless. Barely putting any effort, her single finger was able to push the board on its place, a little more effort from her finger made the whole object spin slowly in a barrel shape.

Neat.* She thought. She watched the bench work with more attention: it was like the desktop of a computer, where her hands acted as the mouse. At the side was a window, which led to a list of numbers, the list of the extreme gears registered, as far as she could tell. And it quickly found the board she had just put on the bench and detailed the changes she was supposed to do.

However, this is where the trouble started. The girl immediately noticed that all she had to do was removed a part of the chassis and replace a single piece. *What the…* She noticed the number of another board and touched the list, another window emerging and she found another board only needing very minor repairs. She repeated the process for a third time and she found the same. "Is this a joke Shorty?!" She demanded.

"No, it isn't." He said, without looking away from his work.

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM DOING!" She shouted, just at his side. Tails introduced a finger on his ear, slightly shaken by her scream.

"Wave, it has been ten years. You need to get back into practice." He said.

"Try me!" She answered, confident.

"Alright." He said, stepping away from his bench. "Prove me wrong." He continued, crossing his arms.

Wave visibly gulped. The last time she tried to defy what the fox told her, things went sour for her and she was having second guesses about this. However, her pride simply wouldn't let her back down without any fight. Somewhat hesitant, she grabbed the board and changed for one on his shelf. "To make sure this isn't rigged." She explained, even thought there was not a question from him. But even taking a new one proved to be a more difficult task than she expected.

She felt like she had to take the one that it was the less likely Tails would have also tampered. It felt stupid, really, crazy and ridiculous. Would the fox really go as far as damaging one, or more extreme gears, which are supposed to be from other people, just to bother her? Just to prove his superiority? Would he had tampered all of them? Did he tampered any of them at all?

Which I take? Which is less likely to be a trick? Low? High? In the middle? No, not the center. Too easy.* Thoughts like that kept running on in her mind, rushing each time faster and faster.

Wave was shaking, almost compulsive, sweating harshly, struggle of air starting to form too. None of this went unnoticed from the fox, although he really couldn't believe it. He had never seen Wave as such a nerve wreck. She was loud, annoying, maybe even a bitch in many ways. However, he had never seen such a lack of confidence, such fear in her. And yet, even if she was completely terrorized, completely insecure about herself, she wasn't pulling back. But, it was not fearless; it was an irrationality, madness, at least from Tails perspective. Unable to take it anymore, he interrupted her.

"That's enough." Tails said, snapping her out of her bubble, all of its content blowing up all over the place, metaphorically speaking.

"NO, YOU DON'T GET TO WIN!" Wave snapped, looking like she was ready to attack at any moment. She looked completely out of herself, the symptoms of before only worsening. The fox was afraid of whatever she could do.

"Wave, please, breath." Tails offered, putting his hands in front of him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME? I CAN'T EVEN TAKE A CHAOS DAMMNED BOARD FROM A FURNITURE! DRUGS? NARCOTICS? ACID? JUSTTELLMEYOUFUCKINGBASTARD!" She snapped, looking like she was going to jump at him at any moment.

However, he wouldn't let her: as a reflex, he was able to move his arm, hit a part of her shoulder and, a second later, nausea and weakness came to the bird, forcing the swallow to the floor by her own weight, although not losing consciousness completely. Tails let go a relieved air, finally gaining a bit more control.

"…Ass… hole." Was all she could say.

"I am sorry." Tails said, something that, somehow, only upset her further.

"You don't… mean it!" She hissed, half way standing up, her legs shaking violently, struggling to support her.

"Damn it Wave, I didn't want this to happen! What do I have to say for you to believe me?" Tails answered firmly.

"I don't even know anymore!" She shouted, her voice cracking, at the edge of tears. She turned around, trying to avoid his eyes, while self-hugging, grabbing her arms with the other.

He sighed. "Wave you went away for ten years. Ten years. Life changes in time and it is worse with technology. The same happened with the extreme gears, especially with the extreme gears. Technology advances exponentially so, what you considered slate of the art back then is outdated now." He explained, softly and reasonable.

She did not want to admit it but he was convincing her. Of course, she would not just tell him that. "But technology has bases. Bases I should understand. And wars make technology take steps back." She replied, not turning around.

"Extreme gears were essential on that war. The standard materials were getting harder to get and harder to build, so people searched for alternatives. Some may look familiar but most gears use many new alloys and new wiring because of that. Heck, now it is standard for extreme gears to be able to use water as power source as well of wind. What I am saying is that there is a lot to learn again." He explained, with the same calm and patience from before.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" She shouted, with an acussing stare.

"Because I thought you wouldn't take me seriously until you were proved otherwise. But I really didn't wanted you to lose control like that." He explained.

There was a moment of silence, Wave was still sobbing, a few tears finally escaping her. However, she was calming down, into a lore reasonable state. However, Tails felt the need to continue.

"It happened to me too." He admitted, looking to the floor, a hand at the back of his neck, expressing shame. Wave only tilted her head with curiosity.

"As I recovered my sanity, I felt the need to return to repairing and building machines. Not gonna lie, returning to this was like an anchor, avoiding me to drift into my madness, and my guilt. But it was difficult: not only my troubled mind made it difficult to concentrate, but resources were more expensive and harder to get them." He explained. Then, he pointed a finger below, meaning to point the construction below them. "All that you see below us, started when I was able to light a bulb with a potato, after being unable to do something that simple for months." He explained.

Wave was speechless, both for the story and the manner he was talking. He opened to her, being honest, permitting himself to be vulnerable to her, reliving what she could only imagine, were some of the worst feelings of impotence she could imagine. Unable to build anything? For an engineer like them, she knew it would be hell on Earth. "… And here I thought you only wanted to piss me off." She tried to joke, although her tone was still sad.

Tails chuckled, smiling weakly. He was happy, thankful that things had solved. "I only aim to do that half the time." He tried to humor her too, but the tone came similar to hers. An idea then formed. "Let's go back." He said, turning toward the elevator.

"But, your work?" Wave asked. Tails turned around, and went to the next room. Curious, she followed him. All he did, was turn the plastic that said *we are open* to *sorry, we are closed.*

"Problem solved." He said.

"But, I need to learn-" She started, but Tails lifted his arm, stopping her.

"One more free day won't kill us." He said. "Wanna see a movie?"

"…. Sounds fine." She answered.

Tails smiled again. They started getting to recreation room. He had to admit, after that speech he gave Wave, he felt lighter, as if, he really had gotten things out of his chest. As if, it was fair for her to know, because she would understand better than anybody would.

 _Author note._ _I was gonna end this with Tails making fun of Wave for admitting he was right and then, Wave would kick him in the balls. This is better. Much, much better._ _Also, this was more like the idea of the original fanfic story: Tails and Wave messing around while at each others throats. But then a plot came out and watching how Sonic Forces history was a joke, I thought I would let my mind run wild for this new world._


	16. The more thing changes part 6

Authors note: Many of the references Infinite might make are not own by Sega or me, including, in this chapter, Star Wars, Pokemon. Please don't sue.

* * *

"Sector 13. Status?" The communicator rang.

"Sector 13, all clear." The echidnas on the field reported back.

"Sector 8. Status?"

"Sector 8, all clear."

This was standard procedure, calling all the different echidnas in each sectors of Angel Island. It was a tedious job, but considering the many enemies that the echidnas made over the years, and the valuable item on top of the island, it was a necessity. However, today, a challenge had risen.

"Sector 5, all…" The echidna started, when he noticed something moving fast on his range of vision. "Hold on, possible contact." The echidna stated, putting on his nocturne mask.

"Sector 5 on possible contact, nearby sectors; please stand by, awaiting new orders." The communicator rang again.

The nocturne mask was equipped with infrared and heat vision, helping it detect anything moving nearby, a quick scan revealing an armorless anthro moving in the surroundings. Sector five was the forest surrounding mushroom hill zone. "He is moving through the sub section B." He continued, chasing on his location.

It wasn't long until they came to a clearing, just a few meters away from the closest living population. However, the Nocturne Velite, aka the scout, desired not being alone at this particular moment. In front of him, at the boarder of the flying island, giving him the back was a black creature, with many streaks of white hair coming from the back of his head. His white mane was cut or burned in several areas; an ear was missing a good chunk of it. He turned around, revealing a black jackal, with a blue colored eye and the other one yellow colored, a white scar flowing across his right eye.

"… Main chamber, I have contact with a black jackal… His appearance… is the same to Infinite without his mask. I repeat, I believe… Infinite is on the island." The echidna voice shivered, terror and fatality brimming from it.

"Maintain contact but do not engage. Echidnas from Sector 5, all converge with the scout. I repeat, Infinite is believed to be in the island." The orders were given. A silent alarm is run through the houses inside the mushroom hill zone. All civil echidnas knew that meant to use the underground caverns of the island to head to the safe zone. Thanks to their digging skills, this usually took just a few minutes, while the warrior echidnas used them to catch up to the scout, ready to defend their home.

Well, somewhat ready: there was a general feeling of discontent and gloom in the group of echidnas: most of the echidnas that fought against Infinite, now suffered lapses of insanity, a secondary effect of Infinites mind tricks powers. Many of these had to be retired from the armed forces. The rest were young soldiers with zero experience with him, only heard about the legendary monster that sent the world at the brink of destruction almost by himself. No one in that attack squad felt ready for the battle against him.

"Main chamber, is it possible to connect with Master Shade?" The scout asked.

The Echidna leader wasted no time getting in contact. "Soldier, I know you are worried about the idea of fighting Infinite. However, remember, Infinite does not have any power without the phantom ruby, so he only has his speed and cunning to rely on. While he is a minor threat, do not consider him powerless, he was a known assassin and mercenary before getting the rock. You have permission to attack, but do not use lethal force. He is probably not alone, so he is more valuable as a prisoner." She answered, before cutting the line.

The Velite gulped, but other echidnas accompanied him now, they walked slowly to the dangerous enemy. They surrounded him, making sure that the jackal couldn't escape them. Once in position, the soldiers waited for the final order. "Soldiers, you are authorized to attack. Capture, do not kill." The main chamber answered and the echidna started their assault.

"What the?" Was all the Jackal could say before noticing the energy shots coming at him, able to dodge them, but receiving a few graces. It was now he noticed four echidna surrounding him, with probably more a little further into the woods. "So, the welcoming committee. Here, I present you with an extremely deadly weapon." The black anthro said, with calm confidence and control, with his hand searching for something behind him, hidden from the echidnas' sight.

"Open fire." The echinas started shooting again, hoping to stop him from doing whatever he was planning. The Jackal threw his body to the floor, the object flying away, close to the echidnas. However, the soldiers couldn't believe what just fell in front of them, falling into pieces by the strength it felt, leaving yellow pieces on the floor. "Is… is that a banana?" One of the soldiers asked in disbelief.

"Do not underestimate the banana!" The jackal shouted, sounding crazy, still laying on the floor. The soldiers exchanged confused looks, the idea that Infinite might not be a threat seemed like a reality.

*VROOOOOOM* The loud roar of an engine started, coming at their general direction as they noticed how it was leveling everything on its way. Soon, they recognized the red and black robot designated as E-123 omega appeared. Its whole body was upside down, looking down, but he was hovering and moving, like an extreme gear. In the blink of the eye, he drifted, managing to just avoid falling from the clift, rescue the jackal who rode him like a motorcycle, and escape at the opposite side of the cliff from where it came from, all while getting shot by several angles by the echidnas

"The target is moving to sector 9, fast! He is not alone!" The soldier shouted at the comm.

"Designated, X the jackal. You were supposed to buy..." The robot started.

"GOTTA GO FAST FASTER FASTER FASTFISTPIST SONIC XXXXXX! BAM BAM BAM BAM!" He was singing in a completely out of tone manner.

"Searching data base. How did I became the pets sitter?" Omega, unironically, asked himself.

Before long, the Nocturnes Equites, the fliers and hunters, appeared, being fast enough to keep up with them and waved their scythes, sending shock waves to their objectives. The robot lost some stability, shaking violently while the jackal. "Hey, people are trying to sing here!"

"Directing to the meeting point." Omega said lowly, before violently changing direction. X would have been sent flying if the robot had not grabbed him with his arm.

Meanwhile, Rouge the bat moved as stealthy as she could. Her ninja-like full body outfit hid her from most of the echidna machinery. The plan was simple, Omega and X would be the distraction, while she attempted to reach the Master Emerald chamber. Once there, the whole thing would be solved. That being said, she knew that things wouldn't go in her desired her high point of view on the Sky Sanctuary, the girl had no trouble noticing the trail of destruction left by her partners in crime, as well of the fact that they were hunted down by several echidnas.

After the war, the Bat found Infinite the Jackal, except, he was completely deranged of the mind, spewing nonsense and being extremely loud; the soft spoken, god like powered creature gone. A few studies showed that the Phantom Rubies' power, capable of altering perception, had this effect on the jackal. Rouge wasn't sure why she decided to take him with her as a new member of Team Dark, but she was seriously questioning if she should get rid of him.

"Are you ready for some CRAZZYYYYYY TAXIIIIIII!" The jackal shouted, before a blast landed just right beside the duo, knocking them down. "riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..." X said in a low voice, mimicking the sound that wouldn't leave his ears.

"I prefer being caught and destroyed before being stuck with your voice again." Omega didn't waste the opportunity to complain. By the time they were able to stand up, they were completely surrounded by the echidna warriors. They just stood pointing their firearms at them from every conceivable angle. So, both of them lifted their arms, in signal of surrender.

"This is your fault." X said lowly. Omega didn't care enough to reply.

"The infiltrators are contained. I repeat, the infiltrators are contained. Preparing the containment units." The soldier on charge explained to the main chamber.

"Contain? He is Infinite. We should eliminate him." One of the soldiers suggested, accompanied by the nod of many others.

"My name is X, not Infinite!" The jackal replied.

"Shut up!" Everyone around, even Omega, screamed at him.

"No, orders are to keep them alive. Plus, this robot is Rouge property..."

"I am not a robot!" The Jackal interrupted with defiance, only to change to uncertainty a second later. "Am I?" He asked to the robot.

"He refers to me, retarded. And I am no ones property." Omega explained, angry because he really thought he didn't have to.

"...Meaning Rouge the bat is probably nearby and they are our best bets on luring her from anywhere she is. Probably also means that this is a drill since Rouge and Master Shade are close."

"So now we are training with Mass murderers!?"

"LOWER THE TONE, BOY!" The leader snapped. "I am in charge here, so we will do as I say and I say we use them as bait." He ordered.

Out of the blue, several explosions were heard behind them, before knowing it, the floor started tilting. The series of explosions cut a small part of the island, slowly putting distance between the main structure. The new platform that remained still floated, thanks to the Master Emerald power over the entire area, but because it was severed from the source, it wasn't able to remain straight, reason why it was starting to turn on its own axis. Omega wasted no time, emitting a smoke screen to further confuse the echidnas, to ease the escape from their clutches.

Speeding of again with X on its back, they used the inclination of the platform to gain more altitude, landing on the surface of the island, but inside the cave systems that ran through the entire island. They ran as fast as they could, maneuvering at their best of the robot's ability, at least until it detected Rouge, stopping right in front of her.

"Rouge!" X shouted, opening his arms for a hug. Instead, she kicked him right in the stomach. "Uffff. Nice seeing ya." He said with a ragged tone.

"You were supposed to buy me more time!" She demanded.

"Told you." Omega added. *grrrrrr.* There was a low sound surrounding them, followed by a vibration below them. "Warning..." Before the robot could end, the walls moved. Rouge and X were able to escape the hit, but Omega wasn't able, receiving all the blunt force.

They couldn't get far however, as a little ahead of them the same happened, locking them up in place. And from what they could feel, the next piece of rock was coming at them.

They exchanged looks, before nodding and closing the gap between them, connecting their bodies by their backs and holding hands. "Double Burst!" They shouted, rotating at high speeds into what was best described as a spinning top, with the strength to pierce right through stone, taking them outside the caverns into the exterior.

"Together we can show the world what we can do, you are next to me And I am next to you, push me on through until the battle is wooooon! NA, NA, NANA."

"Do you seriously have to sing that every time we do it?"

"Yes!" He answered in a out of his mind manner, lifting both arms. Then, rocks started coming they way, some of their size. Rouge easily maneuvered around them while X pulled out a red blade and cut through any rock that would hit him otherwise, spinning into a ball with the blade on its exterior, not that different from Sonic's spin attack, but with a extra red ring. "Jokes on them. Rock throw has low than average accuracy!"

Rouge scouted the surroundings, finding the three echidna guardians responsible for the underground assault and their stone attacks. The bat landed, right in front of them. And, as she hoped, they smiled, brimming with confidence.

"So, a bat and not Infinite? This is gonna be easy." One stated, before launching a fist. However, he hit nothing and, in a movement he couldn't perceive, Rouge stood on his fist, somehow weightless. "What the..."

"Really?" The bat asked before flipping backwards and hitting him in the face, sending him flying.

The other two guardians closed their eyes, their faces exposed struggle. From below the floor, several sharp rocks emerged and were shot at the bat. As the shots came her direction, Rouge spun slowly, moving at the tip of her shoes and putting both hands up in the air, extended, the hands pointing at different directions, all that while dodging the rocks with ease. It looked more like she was dancing than fighting.

Before anyone could guess what was going on, Rouge had managed to get close to one of the echidnas, spun around him and kicked him in the back of the head. And Rouge couldn't help a smirk. *I can see why that is Shadow's favorite.*

The final echidna opened her eyes, noticing how close the bat was. Rouge grabbed her arm and threw her closer to the others. The other two echidnas stood up by now, starting to get back on their feet. The bat flew to their direction and started spinning, almost like a drill and kicked them away, actually knocking them out cold. "Guardians are not made like they used to." She commented while tidying her gloves.

*Phium. Phium. Phium.* The sound of laser shots ripped through the silence, taking Rouge by surprise. Thankfully, X put himself between the blasts and her, blocking them with his red blade.

"The force is strong in me!" He shouted.

"Really?" Rouge asked with deadpan on her face. Managing to hide behind some trees, they kept hearing the blast coming, trying to think about how to proceed.

Suddenly, the ground below the echidnas opened with and explosion, sending them flying. Omega had blasted his way out of the caverns. However, the black robot was severely damaged, several pieces misplaced, an entire arm missing. "Who else wants a piece of me?" Despite all the damage, the robot was still as defiant and ready for battle as always.

"Our lord and savior is here!" X shouted in happiness. Then, from high in the sky, something fell like a meteorite, crashing on the damaged robot. "Our lord and savior is down. I repeat he is down!" He panicked.

Rouge was naturally worries with their heavy hitter down. However, it was the fact that Knuckles emerged from the crater that made her almost crap her pants.

"Soldiers, stand down." The commanding voice of Shade emerged from behind the bat almost made her heart stop.

"S-shade, hi." Rouge said, trying to keep her care free attitude, but it was cracking under the pressure.

"Hello, Rouge." Shade started. The jackal put himself between them, holding his blade in a defensive stance. However, Rouge pulled him away, knowing he could do something very stupid at any moment if let being.

"Do you remember what did you told me about our deal?" Shade asked normally.

"For real practice in stealth combat."

"Then tell me..." It was at this point, that Shade screamed at the top of her lungs, a roar heard through the entire island. "WHAT PART OF BEING STEALTHY INVOLVES DESTROYING A QUARTER OF A NATION WITH EXPLOSIVES?!"

"Hey, it is not that..." Knuckles started, only to become the next target of the echidna's glare, cutting him of all his courage. "Spare me." He said, quickly and in a tiny voice.

"I would have accepted this exercise and let you go without much fuss, but now you will help us in the reconstruction of the area." Shade explained clearly.

Rouge sighed, knowing that the girl was not open for antics at the moment. Still, she had to ask about something before continuing. "What about Shadow?"

"Don't worry. I sent Tikal for him. I imagined they would rather have their privacy." Shade explained.

 _Elsewhere_

Rouge and company had arrived in a medium sized spaceship, designed after her Heart Thief, her vehicle of choice when fighting the Metarex on outer space. It was designed by Tails and it was big enough for five people, but without much luxuries: A dismay for Rouge who wanted to take long bathes.

Right now, it was standing still in the middle of the Sandopolis zone, surrounded by a small group of echidna soldiers, but the only person allowed in, was Tikal. The echidna spirit wore the same clothing as usual, something that she actually couldn't help since each time she emerged from the gem, they would always pop out the same, even if she tried to change them before going back. She couldn't do anything about it. What she could now that she couldn't before, was touching and feeling things.

When she became a spirit, even when she could escape the Master Emerald, she couldn't touch or interact directly with objects, only talk and observe. Then, with help of the Nocturne's technology, they managed to connect the entire island to the gem and create a small area where the echidna spirit could become tangible again, withing the Island air zones. Not only that, but she could use the mystical lines that connected her to the island to travel to any part of the island in an instant, and even grab people and teleport them to her destination of choice, becoming an invaluable asset in the war. Shade was disappointed she couldn't convince her to become a warrior, because an echidna with such skills could easily best her finest fighters, but, in the end, respected her pacifist desires.

"Shadow?" Tikal asked, just outside the door of the ship.

"Over here. Come in." He said and Tikal walked in. "And close the door." Tikal complied, imagining what was going on Shadow's mind. Just as she finished turning around, after locking, her eyes met the black creature, causing her to yelp in surprise, putting a hand on her face. Shadow smiled tiredly at the sight, thinking how cute she acted. "Sorry." He lied.

"I should say that, I shouldn't get surprised like that." She said, in an apologetic sound. "How bad it is?" Her tone immediately went down, frowning with concern. Shadow didn't like worrying her, but he couldn't hide his problems from her with ease. She knew that, if he wanted to meet her in private, was probably because he didn't want to be vulnerable to anyone but her.

Silently, he took of his leather jacket. Below it, he was wearing a tank top that had a large hole, where his back spines emerged. It was then that the echidna girl noticed the pink on his, getting a gasp from her. "What happened?"

"Radiation pois..." He started, putting back the jacket, when, suddenly, she grabbed and arm and started dragging Shadow. "... oon." He ended, taking off guard. From that point, Tikal remained silent while she took him to Azure Lake. Shadow was just playing along, knowing he couldn't talk her out of this.

Tikal was in, what Sonic dubbed, her echidna mom mode, where she was all business and no shyness, like now, the only thing on her mind was helping the hedgehog with his pink fleshy problem. The black hedgehog encountered such mode a few years ago, when he returned with several scars from one of his missions. He also discovered that day that the echidna woman was about as strong as Knuckles. Don't misunderstand: He is much stronger than Knuckles, but getting free from her grip would resort to strength that would likely hurt Tikal, something he couldn't bring himself to do. The girl was as thick headed as any echidna, in her own particular way.

According to Tails, the mystical waters of Angel Island should help deal with the problem, so that's where she was taking him. Before long, they reached the lake, shining with it's crystal clear water, a rarity on the lower world. The chaos and the wisps played around, enjoying one of the last Chao Gardens in the world.

However, it was here when Chaos, perceiving an outsider, and emerging from the water body, threw himself into the attack. Nevertheless, a stare from the guardian girl while lifting a single hand was enough to make him stop, to the point where, of the surprise and his attempt to stop, he fell on his butt. Tikal kept on her trek while Shadow, seizing the opportunity, gave the God of Destruction, the middle finger, smiling for what he just saw. *Fuck you, jealous dog.* Needless to say, Shadow and Chaos have mix feelings about one another.

Tikal had been informed about the hedgehog's need for a cleansing bath, so, beforehand she brought a tub full of the pure water, sponges, soap and other stuff she might need. They stopped just at its side.

"How did it happened?" She asked. She asked, helping him remove the jacket and tank top.

"Got careless." He answered, remembering to keep Wave and everything about her a secret from her. Out of the blue, the echidna girl just grabbed his pants, unbuttoned them and pulled them down. "T-tikal..." Before he knew it, she also lowered the boxers and followed to grab Shadow's arm and throw him in the tub, a good splash of water flew in the moment. The hedgehog emerged, searching for air and, without wasting a second, Tikal started to scrub the hedgehog spikes with a steel sponges, Shadow face contorting into agony. Again, this was normal for the moment she was, but Shadow wasn't even close to used to it. In his defense, he rarely got hurt enough to require this type of treatment, but she would always go overboard with it.

"Please Shadow, you need to be more careful. Your job is extremely dangerous without you being careless." She continued, all the swipes with the sponge only brought more pain to the hedgehog.

"I know, I know." Shadow kept wincing harshly each time she rasped his vulnerable area, but the rest of the time, he managed to close his eyes, relaxing as the girl made her magic. In that moment, a shadowy figure spied up on the tries, waiting for the right time to attack. It moved silently, trying its best to not disturb the leaves surrounding him. When he was just above the ebony creature, he let himself go, ready to launch his assault at Shadow aaaaaand...

Shadow saw it coming and flicked him away, him being a chao, a dark fly type chao. The small creature, despite the small set back, rose back up and tried to attack Shadow, but Shadow stopped it by putting his hand up. The chao flailed his small limbs, hoping to do some damage, but it was failing miserably. "Chazzie is still trying to beat me." Shadow commented lightly.

"It got your competitiveness right down to the bone." Tikal commented lightly. Shadow looked back at her with a small smile. Then it changed to a small wince as he felt the chao bit his fingers, desperate to have results. Shadow looked annoyed at it, but Tikal laughter behind him made him calm down. "That sure brings memories." Tikal commented.

Shadow was thinking the same. He wasn't sure if she was thinking the same day he was thinking, but a few memories in particular came to his mind when the Chao came. One of them, was the day they met for the first time.

 _Way back at Sonic Adventure 2_

"Shadow!" Rouge said, surprised. And how could she not: it didn't seem possible for this serious, uncaring hedgehog to come back for a stranger. But she was thankful. Prison Island would blow up at any moment and Rouge had messed it up, sure that it was here where she would die. At least until he came.

He just grabbed her hand and started running again, while screaming, "Chaos Control!"

Before either of them knew it, they were surrounded by thick green bushes, perfect blue clear skies, a small pond of crystal clear water with its source being a small waterfall. Both anthros looked surprise at the nature surrounding them. "Where are we?" Rouge asked Shadow.

"Don't know. Don't care." Shadow said. He lifted the bright jewel again and prepared for another hop, but was interrupted by a red ball appearing.

"Visits!" The small ball of red light shouted, excited for visits. The small ball of red light took shape of an echidna girl. "Hi, my name is Tikal. And this is a chao garden. Who are you?"

"No one." Shadow replied. "Come." He told Rouge. The latter grabbed his shoulder. "Chaos..." At that instant, the emerald was snatched away and replaced with a chao egg. Shadow blinked at what just happened. "I don't have time for your games!" Shadow said slowly and menacing. Tikal wasn't worried, knowing he probably couldn't touch her.

"Please, just an egg. I promise it won't take long." Tikal inclined her head a bit, trying to appear cute.

Shadow kept staring at her, but then changed the direction of his gaze to the egg in question. "So, this is a chao egg."

"Yeah, that one is about to hatch. It only needs some love and care right now..." Tikal started, but Shadow just threw the egg to a rock nearby. The egg broke in half and the small blue creature emerged from it, looking shocked and hurt. Tikal froze on her place, not believing that had just happened. At this point, Rouge had removed her boots and put her feet into the water, a blissful and refreshing feeling bathing them. But when Shadow threw the egg, she was also, reasonably freaked out.

Shadow walked to the chao, who opened its eyes and was back on its small feet again. "Hmmm, they are rather resistant." He thought. He extended his arm closer to it, but then winced when the chao bit his hand. "Augh, who do you think you are, brat?!"

"Hum, Shadow?" Rouge tapped on his back, getting him to turn his head to her. When she got his attention, she pointed at Tikal. The echidna girl was on the floor, her legs hidden on her skirt, looking like she was about to cry. It was here that he felt a small pinch on his chest. He returned the look at Rouge, who only moved the head, indicating him to take care of the situation. Shadow then moved closer to Tikal. He was about to talk, but Tikal beat him to it.

"You didn't have to throw the egg to the wall!" She wined, tears starting to flow.

"Honestly, he seems to be doing fine." Shadow admitted, observing the chao who had his two arms up, as if it was ready to start a fight with him. Shadow knew he wouldn't really last long against him thought. He looked at Tikal again, who was crying intensively, her hands on her face, sobbing harshly. Shadow sighed. Behind Shadow, Rouge pulled out a small camera and started capturing the moment in video. "Hey, stop crying. What can I do so you stop crying?" He said, clearly lacking a bit of tact.

"*sob* Are you sorry? About throwing the egg to the wall?"

"Yes, I am." Shadow felt like he was actually reliving a moment, like he had made some mistake before, to someone who was crying inconsolably. Shadow told her what she wanted to hear, to leave faster.

"Can you be a little nicer to the chao?"

"... Yes, I guess I can."

"Do you promise that you will come and accompany the chaos regularly?

"Yes, I can." He answered mechanicly, only realizing what he had admitted. "Wait a minute."

Behind them Rouge could not help but laugh at the situation. "Sorry Shads, but you just promised her to come here regularly. I even have it recorded." The bat interrupted, showing the camera.

Shadow only growled at her. "Look, I don't have to do anything..." He started but then, he felt disarmed for the sad expression that the echidna wore, one that he couldn't help but mirror with that blond girl that sometimes appeared on his mind. Knowing that he was caught, he sighed. "Ok, I will be coming regularly." He said, before extending his hand. "Now stand up and stop crying." He said, what he said wasn't nice, but his tone was much nicer than his usual.

Tikal observed the hand for a moment before taking it. Shadow softly helped her to stand up and, that moment, there was a small moment shared between them, as they found themselves almost caught in the brightness of the others eyes. It was a moment when they found great beauty behind them, but also something, or rather someone: Tikal say her father, a man trapped in a obsession, who believed that an all out war would be the only solution; Shadow, instead, a fragile girl who he wanted to take care of, who he desired to protect, who he felt like it would be unfair for the world to take too soon, an idea that brought him anger, but made him feel like there was something more, something he was forgetting. Ultimately, that also became the reason why he looked away. He also took back his emerald from her. At that instant, he gave her the back. "We are leaving." He told Rouge, who followed him without saying more.

"Will you come back?" Tikal asked.

Shadow stopped at that moment, turned his head to her. "I will." And with that they teleported away.

That was the first time that they met, but it would not be the last, as Shadow kept his promise to the echidna girl. It helped that time worked differently wherever they were. Tikal explained that she couldn't be anywhere if not inside the Master Emerald, but because it was broken, she had fallen on this weird place and couldn't leave. Shadow wouldn't admit it, but the place and the person with her brought him some happiness. But it was short lived: When the Master Emerald reformed, she would be trapped inside it for years again. And Shadow would lose his memory, forgetting all about her temporarily.

 _Back to the original time_

"Auuch." Shadow said and snapped Tikal's bubble. He looked at her with worry. "Is there a problem?"

"None. I am just done." She said, trying her best reassuring voice.

"Awwww." Shadow complained, but obeyed. Once out of the tub, Tikal grabbed the tub and then, stood firm. Going from the tips of her feet to her head, a wave ran, the tub included. As it travelled upward, several squares appeared on her body. Then her body disappeared as the wave went downwards, tub included. A few seconds later, she returned, without the tub, just when Shadow was done putting his clothing back on.

"Sooo?" Shadow asked.

"It seems the water does have a good effect on you. But it will take a while and several bathes to fully heal you."

"Good. It means we will see each other fairly often." Shadow commented lightly, causing a blush on the echidna girl, her face and mouth fell in surprise.

"Ye-yes, that would like the case." She said, only realizing how strange the sentence was when it left her mouth. "I mean, I would be the case. That! That would be the case." She rambled on, trying to for the sentence correctly, covering her face with a hand in shame.

The mother echidna was gone, and the hedgehog couldn't help but think she was the most adorable thing in the world. He got close to her, who was too trapped in her thoughts to notice him coming. "Eeep." She let go, when she noticed Shadow, locking eyes with her, their muzzled just milimeters from one another.

There was silence and solitude between the two, the wisps and the chaos got some distance between them, knowing it was for the best. Just two anthros, trapped at the others eyes. At least until Chaos put a hand on each of them, away from the other. He then stared at Shadow, changing the shape of hid head into a crocodile and growled at the hedgehog.

"You want a piece of me you...!" The Black Hedgehog threatened, mostly out of frustration for interrupting their moment. Tikal only sighs before she puts herself between them and grabs Shadow's hand.

"Let's go somewhere more private." She said before starting to teleport, this time taking Shadow the Hedgehog with her.

 _Meanwhile_

*You owe me your life Shadow.* Rouge thought, wiping some sweat from her forehead, in her hand, a shovel.

The members of team dark were piling up dirt, away from the island. The idea was simple: They pile up earth, the echidnas would then use their nanotech for it to join into a solid mountain. That would then be fused with the main island, thanks to the same nanotech. Omega was doing most of the work, but the echidnas wouldn't let her or X slack. However, they were finally done. And before Rouge could wipe the sweat from her face again, X came in and wiped the face of the Bat for her.

Rouge looked at him annoyed, but he didn't care about it and passed her a bottle of water. Rouge didn't answer, just taking the bottle and drinking of it. The jackal went away for a while. At that moment, Omega joined her. "Affirmation. He is slowing us down."

"Maybe." Rouge admitted, not surprised by him.

"Continuing. So we should get rid of him."

"When the time is correct."

Omega knew what that comment meant. "Now."

"When the time is..." She repeated, angrier, frustrated.

"YOU CAN'T." The robot defied.

"Of course I can!"

"You can't. Your stupid hormones spike up. Your stupid brain likes having that pet with you: You named him, get him out of jams and get me into them to save him."

"I don't." There was a bit of a stare down between them, until they heard a small crash came behind them.

"Gaaaah. They are alive. They are alive!" X was buried until a few digging tools that the Echidna had with them and now was screaming in panic.

The echidna laughed at the sight, while Rouge sighed, but smiled weakly. Omega, with his remaining arm, grabbed the bat by the shoulder and made her have eye contact with his visual receptors.

"There, your hormones are level are spiking just now!"

"No they aren't." Rouge lied, convincingly but the robot could see right through her.

"Look Bat, you like having that jackass' company. More than mine." Omega continued.

Rouge rose an eyebrow at the comment. "Look Omega, while I am flattered..."

"Just like you long the Guardian company!" Omega interrupted, not taking any of her comedy. Rouge, finally, decided to listen. "Or Shadow's company. Or Topaz. Or G.U.N. Or Sonic's. Or even Eggman's! I am happy that, as a machine, I don't have any need of company of other meat or metal bags."

"I am perfectly capable of living alone." Rouge crossed her arms over her chest, looking unconvinced.

"What about all the times you are left like crap when people leave you?" Omega answered. This finally made her calm facade break. "Like Knuckles who is staying on the echidna nation with Shade; or G.U.N. who turned against you the moment things got a little tough and saw you as scapegoat; or Shadow, who abandoned us; or..." Rouge kicked the robot to the floor, silencing it.

"That, was low." Rouge said, a single tear on her eyes.

"What I am saying is that just because you have lost your fair share, you don't have to comfort with the jackal. Because if you don't scare him away, he will get us killed." And with that, the robot moved away, aiming to fix himself.


	17. Shenanigans 2

Author note: A short one this time, very short. Also, I am changing any thought line from being encased in ** to () because the * were giving me some trouble if they were at the beginning of the paragraph.

* * *

"So, this is happening..." Tails observed with disbelief, while Wave carried a few bags on her arms, the bags filled with cooking oil and different vegetables. They were at the moment in the kitchen, where Wave had pulled out some skillets, pots and other kitchen tools.

Long story short, Wave was tired of eating reheated pizza, instant soup and several other junk foods. The swallow also was concerned about losing her figure, to the point where exercise wouldn't be enough, so, to her dislike, she decided to try and cook something.

"Would you stop the sass? I can cook and you will help me if you want to eat!" Wave answered.

"Do you even know how to cook?" Tails asked,

"Please, I am one of the smartest anthros in the world." Wave boasted.

"So, you have never cooked before." Tails deduced, earning an annoyed stare from Wave.

"How hard can it be? I mean, Jet was our cook." Wave commented.

"Jet was your cook?" Tails had to ask, his brain producing an image of the hawk wearing an apron with something silly written on it, like 'kiss the cook'.

"Yeah, very good if you ask me." Wave said.

"Suuuure." The sarcasm was easily noticeable. He thought that she was just putting Jet in a pedestal higher than he deserved, like she used to.

"Just shut up and cut!" Wave ordered, putting a wood board, vegetables and a knife in front of him. "I still don't understand why do you have so many cooking tools here if you don't know how to cook." Wave commented as she mashed some ripe plantain.

"Yeah, I wonder too." Tails admitted, pealing and cutting vegetables.

The recipe that Wave wanted to try consisted on making fried patties with the mashed plantains filled with cheese and the vegetables. "You know, there are many simpler recipes with me..." Wave started but Tails interrupted.

"You aren't going to bring meat in this house." He said with deadpan.

"Oh, c'mon! A vegetarian fox? What kind of joke is that?!"

"A bad one." Tails said. Soon, Wave had enough mass to wrap the vegetables and then she tried to give it shape, key word being tried since the shape she got was very irregular instead of a half-moon. Neither Tails nor her complained about that and the woman tossed it into the hot oil, getting spilled and burnt in the process.

"Ow." She complained. She tried to move the patty with a fork, but with each movement, more and more drops of boiling oil jumped from the pan, accompanied by the *hisssss* sound. "Ow, ow, ow, ow. OW!" Wave kept going on.

In her frustration, she ripped open the patty, its content falling from the patty into direct contact with the pan, which excited the oil even further. In the panic and trying to stop getting burn, she stepped away, unintentionally pulling the pan from the fire. It fell to the ground, where it spilled all of its contents. Luckily, both anthros jumped away from the liquid, not getting burn. There was a short silence after that, then Tails tried to say something, but the swallow beat him to it.

"Not. A word. About this." She threatened.

Tails didn't obey her, but she was sure that what he said was not what he first thought. "Let me try. The bots will clean the mess of the floor later."

"Like you can do any better." She challenged.

However, instead of a quip, he sighed, which Wave found odd. "That's a good question." He admitted. He then prepared another pan with hot oil and threw another patty in it.

This time, he tried to move the patty by moving the whole pan, the oil waving around it, with the same *hissss* as before. However, his movements tosses larger drops of oils, not to the air, but to the fire, which caused the pan to catch fire.

"Gaaah." Tails screamed, stepping back for a second and turning the gas od the oven off, which made the larger fire, but now the patty was still on fire. "Uuuummm." He made the nervous sound, looking around for some cloth to sofocate the fire.

"Water, Water." The swallow, meanwhile, searched for a glass to fill with water.

So Tails shook a kitchen rag and Wave threw the water, turning the fire off. But the only thing remaining was a burnt, black, wet mass that didn't look appetizing at all. There was silence again.

"We can make robots, planes and whatnot, but we can't cook?!" Wave couldn't believe it.

"Reheated food." Tails suggested, in a singing manner.

"We are going out to eat something healthy." She replied decisively, moving away fro the kitchen.

"Yeah, good luck convincing me." Tails commented

 _TIME SKIP_

"How did you convinced me of this?" Tails asked himself, as he followed the Swallow. While Wave wore a marine green midriff top and black baggy pants, Tails wore a hoodie baggy pants and black glasses, trying to conceal his identity. To help that idea, he put a band on his twin tails, in a way that it wasn't easily visible, giving the impression he only had one.

"Can you seriously tell me that you aren't tired about your reheated food?" Wave asked.

"Have you passed a period of serious necessity? Because that food is heaven to me." Tails commented.

"You really need to learn to cook." Wave commented.

So, walking to Station Square and reaching to the sea, they soon found several restaurants dedicated to marine food, one in particular had this big bear anthro with a trident with fishes on them, while having a rustic design for a building, a big cottage that received all the fresh sea wind to help keep it fresh.

Tails choose the table, one that was at the corner of the restaurant, with Tails sitting on the side where he ended looking to the wall while Wave looked to the rest of the place. Before long, they both shared a table and checked the menus.

"Geez, 20 bucks for a fish. Are they serious!?"

"This was your idea genius. Seriously, why do you force me to this compromise if you are going to complain about it in every occasion?"

"You are the one who was dying for something else to eat."

"You should have learnt to cook for yourself, considering how bad your eating habits are."

"Shouldn't the female learn to cook for the male?

"My Chaos, I took you for a lot of bad things, but now I have to add sexist to the list?! I never thought of you as capable." She replied, faking being offended.

"Can I take your order?" The waiter came.

"Fried snapper." Wave said.

"Soup of the day." Tails said. The swallow rose an eyelid.

"Really?"

"Are you going to criticize my every move?"

"It is just that I thought you would want something else. It is like you are lazy to even chew!"

"Maybe." Was all he said.

They talked about whatever subject came to them, at least until the food arrived. Wave cut a piece of her fish and bit it, her face contorting into a happy face. "Ooooh, so good." Wave commented. After that, she noticed Tails' stare, directed at her food. The swallow wasn't sure about it, but Tails looked worried at the fish. "Don't tell me you want fish now?"

Tails blinked twice, looking like he just returned to himself. "Wha- no. I am fine. I am fine." He repeated, concentrating on his soup. Wave kept an eyebrow up, but continued enjoying her food.

Then, "I can't believe it!" They heard, just a few steps away, which made them turn their heads to that couple. The slim girl, who stood up, looked pissed and screamed at the chubby looking man. "You were supposed to start eating healthier!"

"Problems in heaven?" Wave commented. Tails tried to ignore it, curving his body, making sure that his vision was focused only below him.

"But babe." He tries to talk to her but she refused to listen.

"No buts!" She snapped. "You promised you would lose weight. But not only are cheating on the diet, you brought god damn pork here!" Tails heard behind, followed by what he assumed was a slap on the face. He made his best to not change his position.

However, there were some low *thud* sounds followed by it, and getting closer, until it literally landed in his range of vision: it was a red, slightly burnt, pork ribs. (Fuuuuuuck) Tails' mind screamed, feeling his stomach turn upside down, the disgusting taste of acid and food reaching to his throat.

"Well, that just..." Wave started and, then, Tails jumped from his seat and ran away, pushing a waiter to the floor. "...happened?" Wave ended.

Tails made a bee line to the bathroom feeling the internal fluids were about to leave him. He opened the first door, relieved that he might be able to throw up inside a toilet, only to find a couple at each other, making out. It was a couple of walruses.

"Hey, close that!" He heard, but he was unable to move away and not throw up a bit on their feet. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Ew ew ew ew." The other repeated, feeling the disgusting green things on her feet.

Tails gave no shit about it and ran to another cabin, continuing his disgusting problem. "Bleeeeeee!" He evacuated, this time on a toilet, a slight relief for him. At some point, he put aside his glasses.

A couple of minutes went by, but he was still not confident to leave the bathroom. A few minutes later, his companion shouted outside of the room.

"Hey Shorty, are you there?" Wave asked.

"Have they gotten rid of the pork?" Tails asked, the only thing that he thought was important at the moment.

"Yeah. It is gone" She replied.

A few seconds later, he finally left the bathroom, his eyes meeting with Wave's. "Sorry you had to hear that." Tails apologized.

"What the hell was that?"

"I told you I am vegetarian."

"Last time I checked, vegan didn't evacuate their insides when they barely stare at cooked meat like that. I might believe it with crude meat but still."

"I do get worse with crude meat." He admitted.

"Hey!" He was softly pushed further of the bathroom, by the male walrus who looked furious, the one he puked on earlier. "How are you going to answer about..." He started, at least until he noticed who he was threatening. When he did, he almost pissed himself. "...Holy shit." He muttered, unsure about what would happen.

"What?" The woman followed, not believing that his mate was cowardly stepping away. That's when she also noticed who he was and, out of the blue, looked furious and slapped Tails in the face. "You bastard!" She spat, with all her hatred.

Tails didn't reply, although the expression his face contorted to said nothing: No anger, frustration, surprise, just... void. The male walrus looked like he had seen a ghost.

"S-she doesn't know what she did." The male tried to excuse her.

"Who do you think you are?!" Wave snapped, trying to defend the fox.

"You are the one who doesn't know who she is with, you bitch!." The woman said.

"Oh, now you have done it." Wave started, pulling her non-existent sleeve up. However, Tails put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "What? She slapped you..."

"I will handle this." Tails said, dryly. He then took the lead, staring at them right on their eyes, an ice cold stare that made those two instantly nervous. "Out. Now!" He say lowly.

With that, the walruses panicked enough to walk away from there, but not without the woman telling him one more insult. "You are a monster!"

There was a silent moment before Tails talked again. "So, do you still have appetite or what?"

Wave only lifted an eyebrow, getting a little used to Tails being fairly unpredictable. "Just like that?"

"Yeah."

"She called you monster."

"I have being called much worse." He admitted.

Wave let go a puff of air. "So, this happens often?"

He put back the black glasses. "You could say so."

"You know, you could try and improve your image after all this years."

"Why would I?" Tails asked. Wave returned a confused stare.

"Because people fear you?" She asked, thinking it was an obvious answer.

"I like that people fear me." Tails answered, which sent a chill down her spine. "Do you have any idea of how much people used to mess with me because they thought I was weak, or didn't take me seriously for being young and little, or just were straight up jerks because I was different?" That was half a spat, half a confession." Now, I don't even remember the last time who knew who I was took me like a joke." Tails explained.

"Careful Shorty. You are starting to sound evil." Wave expressed her concern.

"I am well aware. Doesn't mean I enjoy it any less." He explained, sounding disappointed.

"Geezz, the emo meter is going of charts." Wave joked, trying to hide her worries. She observed how the fox was getting further. She wanted to say more, to tell him he was wrong, but the thing was, she was guilty also of what he said. She used to think that Tails was inconsequential when they first met, she used to try to make him feel less. She perfectly understood what his train of thought consisted of, specially the part where he was happy that people took him seriously, to the point where they were completely afraid of him.


	18. Dammit Tails

Serial killer. Thirteen more deaths under his belt. Escapes the authorities again. Kills again. Hero becomes monster. That and several other head lines appeared on the web searcher, after she put the words 'Tails' and 'war' together. Several web pages said that. She scrolled down, all with similar titles, from blog pages, news pages and what not, all with serious information about the killings of the fox during the years of the war and after. Wave wasn't proud that she didn't research this stuff sooner, considering that she planed on doing something like this from the very beginning, but things kept her distracted and, to be fair, it had only been a few days since she was stuck with the fox, barely closing the week so far.

Although, now she regretted it, because this was much more serious than she expected, but after the reaction of those walruses, this felt necessary. With everyone telling her that he was a killer, she was not expecting him to be a serial killer that murdered people daily. During the last part of the war and months later, Tails had killed tons of people, going from as low as 400 to over 2000, with the more common estimate around the thousand give or take. That maximum was insane and with reports of attributed but unconfirmed kills. And apparently, people was unhappy about the idea that he was permitted freedom, despite everything he had done.

That explained why people reacted so poorly to him back then. If you were a serial killer that was still on the loose, how would you react when you see him eating like he had done nothing? Not to mention that there wasn't any clear studies about his recovery. No wonder people thought he was still dangerous.

"Wave, are you there?" She heard, just outside. She closed the window, worried about what his reaction would be.

"Yeah, right here." A second later, he revealed his face. "What do you want?"

"We agreed to come and try the new extreme gears we were adjusting yesterday."

"In a minute." She replied, turning off the machine. She stopped for a minute, remembering what she found, but also the Tails she has met for the last days. Yeah, he was difficult and all, but as he had opened more to her, she honestly felt like she should give him the benefit of the doubt.

 _Time skip_

"Yahoooo!" Wave shouted happily, riding the extreme gear. "It handles like a beauty!"

"Of course it does. I build it."

"Oh, shush it show off."

The plains of Mystic Ruins were significantly more barren than she remembered, but they served as excellent running grounds. From what both could feel, their machines ran at optimal performance. However, that wasn't going to be enough for the swallow.

"I bet you that piece of junk can't match this in a race." Wave challenged.

"Wave, I build both machines. Although, if it's a lesson what you want, I am all ears." Tails said, confident.

"Like that drunk man belly is gonna let you win." She joked.

"I am not that fat!" He exclaimed.

"Onetwothreego!" She quickly, as fast as she could before stepping on the gas and leaving the fox behind her.

"Hey!" He shouted, although he knew it was a futile effort. He stepped on the gas too and hoped for the possibility of catching her.

The advantage of the swallow was too big and there weren't many obstacles on the way, so it was mostly up to the performance of the machines. Which would be a problem since the machines were evenly matched. To make things worse for the fox, as racers, Wave was better than him right now.

The few times there was a tight curve, the swallow would take advantage of the drifting and get a good acceleration, something Tails sometimes failed at; She made the jumps and gained more air, altitude and speed than him; each time he accelerated, extending his arm to try to catch her, she would wait to the last second to accelerate herself, avoiding him. She was playing him, but he wasn't surprised about it.

Tails hadn't practiced extreme gear riding that much for the last few years. Other things were his priorities, not to mention the relearning process that came after his madness. For Wave, on the other hand, extreme gears were her life, so, skill-wise, he was confident she outmatched him. He had considered the idea of not racing with her, but the idea of conceding her the victory without a fight was unbearable.

"Hey, are you trying to win, or just trying to take a good look at my ass?" Wave challenged.

"Like someone would look at that tiny thing." Was Tails answer.

To his surprise, she slowed down, just at his side. "You know, I will be here. I can't permit you to keep seeing me like a piece of meat. I will just wait for the last minute to take the lead."

"I will just wait for the last minute to take the lead." He repeated, faking a voice that was supposedly similar to hers. There was also a small blush on the fox muzzle. "I can still see your ass from here." He muttered, while looking away, thinking she would not hear him.

"Aha! I knew it." She exclaimed, happily. Now the fox blush grew bigger.

"A man is looking at a girl's ass. What a surprise!" He exclaimed, defensively, though he should have thought of something better. "Why are you even happy... Wha..." He exclaimed as his board crashed with a stone wall. The angle of impact was small, so he was only shaken a bit, but that only let Wave gain an even bigger edge than before.

"You are losing your edge and the ra~ce!" She screamed in the distance. This only bothered the fox further. He stepped on the gas again, hoping to catch up to her in the pointless game.

A ramp was coming up, and Wave rode it effortlessly. She rolled with the board, ending upside down, while the gear did several spins. These caught the complete attention of the fox, not necessarily that the trick was impressive (albeit there was a bit of that), but Wave herself.

She looked happy, free enjoying every moment of the trick, almost she was going with slow motion and she flavored every second. Yeah, he had seen her somewhat happy in the last few days, but she looked much more natural and complete. However, he couldn't keep looking at her because he also had a jump to make but he didn't take any impulse to do so, so he was now in free fall right to the floor.

(Shit!) He shouted in his mind, barely able to spin his tails to stop himself mid air to avoid the crash, just a few feet from the floor. The extreme gear was nowhere as lucky, crashing harsh on the rock floor, pieces of it sent flying from the crash. He felt like something pushed him, but that was it. He however, found himself landing a second later. And the next second, Wave arrived, landing at the side of the board.

"You murdered this board! How could you?!" She shouted.

"I am fine. Thanks for asking." He answered sarcastically. It was now that Wave checked him out, gasping. "What?" Tails asked, looking confused. The swallow didn't reply. Instead, she moved closer to him and put her hands on his torso. That's when he understood what she was doing.

A piece of the board had pierced the fox's torso, causing him to bleed. "Oh." That was all that the fox said. This concerned the swallow a bit.

"Chaos dammit Tails! That's all you are gonna say?!" Wave shouted in disbelief.

"Let's just get ho..." He started. The Wave put one of his arms on her shoulder. "..me?"

"You don't need to act all tough with me around." She told him, helping him move.

Tails didn't reply, unless you count a happy sigh as words.

 _Another time skip._

Finally, the duo arrived at the infirmary inside Tails' complex. Pretty much dragging the fox to a chair, she put him on it, and proceeded to help him removed the shirt he was wearing. Tails was about to make a comment, but Wave beat him to it. "No comments about how this is sexual." Wave pointed and threatened. Tails just rolled his eyes. Once the shirt was out, they took a good look at the wound, a chunk of metal ripped through the fox's stomach, at its left side. The blood dripped, falling from the found to the pants, already covering a good part of that area and lower. Wave observed, her body and blood freezing for a moment, but her mind panicked, screaming inside.

(What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?) Her mind raced.

"Easy Wave." This snapped her bubble, making her look at him. Tails stood up, moving to a bed nearby. The bed had a panel at its side. He touched a few of the buttons. Before long, a piece of metal came from the ceiling, emitting a green light on the fox.

Wave was a little impressed by his machinery, a question suddenly popping on her head. "Where do you get the money to finance all this stuff?"

"I have a few patents." He admitted.

In a few seconds, the process was done. Now, the panel showed in real time the pieces inside him. It was a big one, with a few small ones lost inside. It also showed that, despite the speed of the hit, it was superficial, not hitting any important organs. "OK, time to get the medikit." He said, while starting to sit on the bed.

Wave heard him and took initiative, grabbing the object and taking it closer to him. This way he didn't even need to stand up to use it. Before long, both changed into clean gloves. The swallow then noticed that the fox had a sedative in the box and Wave decided to take it, but the fox grabbed her hand, just before she could. Wave looked up. "I don't need that." Tails said.

"But it must hurt as fuck!" Wave replied.

"I am fine."

"OK, seriously, how are you doing it?" She asked.

"I can take the pain." He answered, knowing what she meant.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" She snapped. "You can't convince me that you are taking it like nothing! You have a fucking piece of metal piercing your fat and you are feeling nothing?!"

"Will you help me patching up or, at least, will you let me do it alone?" He answered, not wanting to get into this conversation. After that, Tails moved his sight away from the swallow and grabbed a forceps. Now the panel on his side permitted him to see the pieces of metal inside him, so he used the forceps to remove the biggest chunk. To Wave continuous surprise, Tails barely reacted, even to the fact that the last action made him lose even more blood, now that the obstructive object was out. He continued to search for the other pieces, but it seemed he was having trouble doing so, something that Wave noticed.

"H-hey." She said, putting her hand on his. "Hand me the forceps." Tails looked hesitant for a moment but handed them to her. The moment the forceps were on the swallow hands, the fox noticed how they shook visibly.

"Today Wave. While I am barely reacting, I assure you I can still die from bleeding." He said, growing anxious.

"Shut up!" She answered. She then stopped for a moment, taking a breath, trying to ease her hand (thought not fully succeeding). Meanwhile, the fox prepared the edges of the wound, cleaning them with a cloth and bit of disinfectant.

Not that long after, Wave managed to remove the pieces of metal. Now, it was time for the stitches. Tails had the metal thread on his hands, hoping to be able to do it himself. However, it was here that his vision got blurry, to the point where all he saw with certainty was light.

"Tails?" Wave asked, but his ears barely registered, drowned by a growing ring.

"You... must do the... stitches. I can't see." He said, tiredly. A part of Wave sighed in relief since the fox was finally reacting to something, but that also became a problem because, he was now feeling pain.

Wave gulped, but tried to steady her arm and prepare for the process. This was not the first time she had to close a wound like this, but it was the first time she would be doing it herself. Storm was the medic of the team, the one taking the lead on this situation, mostly through empirical knowledge. Well, right now she was in the same situation as the Albatross.

"OK, the wound is rather wide, so let's use the continuous stitch." She said to the fox, hoping to keep him conscious for a little longer. The fox didn't reply, his head half hanging.

Wave gulped, growing more and more concerned. "Geez, the silent treatment. I wish you would do this more often." She joked, while piercing a part of the skin. She quickly made a knot on it, utilizing a forceps to properly twist the metal wiring, and proceeded to insert it on the upper part of the separation.

"C'mon, Tails, give me a smile. I thought you were this tough dashing rogue that could take anything." She continued as the needle and thread flowed, up and down, up and down, each pierce taking about half a minute to set correctly, but for the swallow felt much longer.

"Sorry... to disappoint." The fox muttered, but it bathed the swallow with relief.

Before long, the thread had fully passed on the wound and helped close the gap, ending in another knot at the other side. She looked up, only noticing the fox with his head still hanging, barely moving or doing anything. Wave gulped, concerned that he might be in a worse situation than she expected. Suddenly, Tails fell from the bed, directly to the floor. And Wave's heart stopped for a moment.

A loud *thud* was heard, the sound echoing in Wave's ears for a few seconds, seconds that felt eternal. "Tails! Tails!" Wave screamed in panic, while dropping to her knees. She knew it was probably the worst time to shake the fox, considering it would probably cause him to bleed more, but she was completely oblivious to that. The only thing she wanted was him to give her any sign of life. She also forgot about trying to find his pulse and he was face-down, so putting her head on him and search for the heart was a no. It also didn't help that, while the big scar was close, he had also lost a lot of blood and the small ones still flowed.

"You must be fucking kidding me?!" She bursted, almost in tears. "You fought aliens, robots and monsters; raced in ridiculous high speed competitions; and this is going to kill you!" She said. But then, "ZZZZZZZ." The sound came from his lungs. Wave froze again, but this time, she was angry and relieved at the same time. "You...miiitttiisstickle." She generated some sounds of frustration that not even herself was sure how to describe. However, she sighed, the relieved part of her taking over. Still, she was done yet. She tried to make the fox sit down, using her shoulders as support for his body (despite him crushing her a little since he was heavier) and wrapped him with bandages as best as she could.

 _Time skip_

"Wave, I can think of other ways in which we can wake him up." Cream told her.

"Are they this fun?"

"They won't get us killed when he wakes up. Plus, he is wounded. He needs something more comprehensive."

"Fuck that. He asked for it."

Wave triggered the detonation device. Little later, a radio that she brought, blew up, making the fox wake up. The only real difference was that Wave was with there and they waited outside the room, safe from the fox and his short fit of anger. Eventually the screams and throws of random objects diminished, followed by a scream. "WAAAAAAAAAAAVE!"

"Right heeeere." She answered in a singing tone, opening the door just enough to show her head. She then had to hid it again when the fox threw a random medical equipment at her. Just a few seconds later, Tails came out of his room, looking very annoyed. His stomach was covered with bandages, put by Wave before leaving the medical room.

He then noticed Cream.

"Why did you let her do it?!" Tails asked with disbelief.

Cream just shrugged. "Look, I just came to take her away for a night. And we need the bracelet."

Tails only growled in frustration, but wasted no time in handing the bracelet to Cream again. "Wave, if you ever do that again, you will see the worst of me."

"Uuuuuh, so scary." Wave joked, while shaking both her hands. Cream just grabbed her hand, walking away. Tails followed close by.

"You really need to stop touching his buttons." Cream told her once they were outside his home.

"I have it under control."

"You wouldn't say that if you saw all he did."

"...Killed thousands of people." Wave said, no longer as amuse or playful. "Was it as dreadful as it sounds?"

"Worse." A third voice joined them. Rouge the bat was above Cream's car, before getting down to greet the girls. "Honestly, even Shadie's record with the Black Arms is a drop in the bucket compared to his."

Here, Wave looked behind her. As she expected, Tails was still behind them, looking unaffected by what they were saying about him. "Do as if I wasn't here." He answered.

With that done, there were only two, or rather four bouncy things that had Wave's attention in that moment. "Cream's boobs are bigger than yours." Wave exclaimed in disbelief. "And, they are smaller than before?" Wave pointed out at the bat, sounding more like a question.

"And a twelve year old has bigger boobs than you." Rouge jabbed back.

"Geez, feeling threatened just because you aren't the biggest girl in the room?"

"It must be how you feel everyday." Rouge answered. The girls slightly showed their teeth.

"Can we just leave?" Cream put herself between them, pushing them further.

"Fine. Either way, I really need that shot." Rouge admitted.

"Oh, and why does the great and infamous Rouge the bat feels so distressed to want a shot?"

"Look loudmouth, I don't care about your opinion, but if you need to know, I need some time away from my teammates. Now, can we go to the bar?"

"Not before we change outfits." Cream ordered.

"Cream, I look fine." Wave stated, but Rouge grabbed her arm.

"No, no, no, no. We need to look our best." Rouge suggested, before throwing Wave in to the card, violently. Before the Swallow had a chance to do anything else, Rouge threw herself at her, holding her on place.

"What the...?" Was all Wave could scream as she squirmed, trying to get free. This proved to be futile, but it was not a surprise, considering Rouge used to trade blows with a certain super strong echidna. "Cream help!" She shouted.

"Of course! I will help you find the most eye catching dress to have all the boys drool for you!" Cream answered, almost as if Wave wasn't being kidnapped.

"Tails, help!" She knew this was likely not going to work, but she better use every opportunity she had.

"Do as if I wasn't here." He repeated.

"Oh, c'mon! Don't you know that holding grudges is bad?"

"I do. That's why after that I won't hold any." He answered. Just then, Cream turned the engine of the car on and left.

"Fuuuuuck Yoouuuuu!"

 _Time skip_

Wave could not believe what she was wearing: a black dress that barely covered her lower private area with a V shaped cavity on her chest area. It permitted to see her small boobs, and to make things more uncomfortable, she wasn't wearing any bra, from what you could see. It was Cream and Rouge's idea.

Making the things somehow worse, were Cream and Rouge, also wearing slutty clothing. Cream wore a virgin killer sweater, which covered her ass, but barely. Rouge, meanwhile had a dress that showed her shoulders and reached about the same area as Wave's dress. The very major difference was that both of them filled their dresses much better than Wave could.

And it showed, as most of the boys of the structure went to her companions and other women around before even looking at Wave.

They arrived on a stripper club, the place filled to the brim with husky males that were making a show with their builds and flexibility. Wave wouldn't admit it, but she had only gone to one of those places once, before deciding she didn't want anything with them ever again.

It was a shallow place where people would fake their smiles for a paycheck, would give you a 'unforgettable night', just to disappear after that like nothing had ever happened. At best, you satisfied a need temporarily, at worst, you develop an addiction for it.

And there she was, one of the few females that remained sitting tight, barely reacting unlike everyone else with their cheers and loud mannerisms. She really felt like just leaving and let the girls have their fun, but a certain bracelet would not let her.

Cream had tried to get her to meet boys, literally dragging one after the other to meet her, but Wave would show zero interest for them and the guys would immediately reciprocate said feelings. Rouge, on the other hand, was at her third martini, jumped up the stage and started pushing her ass against the most muscular guy's, a giant gorilla, to be specific. Both seemed to be enjoying it.

"Hey, Wave, check this guy out." Cream said, behind the swallow. The latter banged her head to the table.

"Cream, I had more fun back at work with that slave driver." Wave stated. However, had she checked him out further, she would have been a little less rude with him. He was a teal colored avian, slim but muscular build, with a messy cockscomb and a single piercing in his left ear. He wore a black jacket without sleeves, a yellow shirt saying 'fuck the world' and black very tight jeans.

"Really? Maybe you just need to meet the correct guy." He stated with a modest voice, not too deep neither too high. Plus, that was the nicest thing she had being told by a stranger today.

"Let's see if you can surprise me." Wave answered, more reachable. Cream went away, giving the birds some space. "My name is..." Wave was standing up, ready to give him a handshake. But, while she offered her hand, he took her entire body, locking them in a hug. Wave struggled against the act, getting them to separate. "Whoa, cool it down! At least invite me a drink and a dinner." Wave said, half joke, half annoyed.

"Sorry." He didn't look ashamed or apologetic at all. "It is just that I am always happy to see another bird." He explained. "Hey waiter, get us some punch with alcohol over here. One for me and one for the lady." He told a random waiter.

"Who is the lady?" Wave asked. The birdguy looked confused.

"You, you are the lady." He answered, confused.

"It was a joke dufus." Wave answered. He stopped himself for a minute, ashamed, almost as if he was trying to eat his face with his mouth.

"Sorry, I had never done this kind of stuff." He admitted.

"Because back home all is business, chain of command and discipline." Wave understood. She herself was a very awkward person for the first few years after escaping from the Battle Kukus, not getting how much things worked until much later. She still considered herself somewhat awkward. "Let's start with presentations."

"You are Wave the Swallow." He said. "Or maybe her sister? I mean, you look like her, but she is supposed to be in her thirties. You look younger." He rationalized, a hand on his chin.

"First of all, you are supposed to present yourself, not the other person. Second, yes I am Wave. Third, I need your name."

"Sorry, I am Cyan."

"So, you are another bird running from the Battle Kukus?" It was almost like a supposition.

Now, he looked at her with confusion again. "Don't you know that the Battle Kukus are gone?" He asked in disbelief and when he did, Wave's eyes opened a lot. "Wait you didn't?!" He asked again. "Where have you been?!" He said, while lifting his arms.

"...In another dimension where time goes at different speeds?" It was more a question than an answer.

Cyan eyed at the girl. "You are serious about that, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I honestly expected you to take that as a joke."

"I didn't because it actually sounded funny." He joked. But Wave wasn't laughing or reacting to it.

"What happened?" She asked, without any humor in it. He cursed himself for not being able to change the subject.

Thankfully, the waiter came with their drinks. Without waiting a second, Wave took her and drank a bit of it, knowing the alcohol would make the punch easier to take in. Cyan soon accompanied her in the action. "It was caused by a single anthro, in a way. Tails the fox." Just at that moment, Wave had taken another sip of the drink, only to open her eyes a lot, and start coughing her drink. Cyan started to pat her on the back, helping her.

"What?!" She asked with disbelief.

"... You have just gotten back, didn't ya?" He asked.

"... No." She said lowly. "I have heard about how he was a serial killer and all, but... I knew him. He was this little sweet boy that couldn't hurt a fly. I still have trouble digesting it." She answered, leaving out the fact he had her on his house, because he wouldn't let her go.

"Come with me." He proposed.

"Not until the third date at least." She joked.

"I am not joking. There are birds trying to make a new home for our species. Your mechanical know-how would be invaluable for us."

"No." Wave said clearly. As the situation was at the moment, Wave could not even consider escaping the fox, thanks to that stupid situation the fox had forced her into.

"It is not the same as the Battle Kukus. It can't be that again. I promise it will be better." He tried to convince her.

"It's... complicated." She replied, unaware that her eyes went to the blue and white bracelet. This didn't go unnoticed to Cyan.

"Is it a guy?" He asked, thinking that maybe what was stopping her was a lover or something.

"No." Wave answered, calm and collected.

"Is it a girl?"

"Geez, it must be a girl! Why would I be in a male stripper club if I love woman so much?!" Wave answered, sassy.

"... Sounds like a good alibi to me." He admitted

"I like men, thank you."

"Then, what is that bracelet about?" He stretched his arm, aiming to touch the bracelet. Wave, however, put it out of his reach, looking surprised and scared that he almost did. In hindsight, she really wished she hadn't.

He knew he had hit a sensible spot, so he stood up, to what Wave answered by also standing up and started running away. Her eyes searched for Cream or Rouge, as well for the exit, but before she could find anything soon enough and Cyan had caught her and pushed her against a wall.

Her face was put against the wall, while he used his body to unable her from moving correctly, almost doing something that looked sexual. That way, he still had his hands free to work. Without loosing much time, he managed to grab the flailing appendage and struggled against the bracelet. Here, he realized that the bracelet wouldn't move from it position, it would not split to permit the possibility of taking it away, and, worse of all, realized that it had a countdown, starting from 18 and decreasing with each beep.

When Wave realized this, she got desperate enough to hit him with the back of her head. This stunned him, permitting her to follow up with a kick to the gut, getting all the air out of him and she finished with an axe kick, putting him on the floor. While he wasn't down for the count yet, he felt like thinking twice before trying something like that again. However, none of that mattered. Not as much as the fact that the clock on the bracelet stopped and disappeared at the number 15, making her sigh in relief.

However, this made Cyan take the line 'I had more fun with that slave driver' in a completely new light. "Who is the slave driver?" He asked.

"That's none of your business." Cream appeared behind him. He turned around, noticing the rabbit just appearing at her side.

"You don't want to get into this, slut." He spat. However, he then felt some metal against his stomach. Looking down, he realized that Cream had a wispon on her hand, pointing it against him. It was the standard white wispon, but even that could kill a person with ease.

"Try calling me a slut again and see what happens." Cream threatened with a smile. Cyan tried to take the blaster away in a swift movement but Cream was faster and pulled the trigger while putting it away from his reach.

The shot grazed him on the shoulder, making him wince and take a step away. "Arg!" He cried in pain, putting the other hand on the damaged area. "I will help Wave, even if it is the last thing I do." He replied, before going away, still holding his shoulder with the other hand.

There was a moment of silence in the place, thanks to the scandal they made, but the music and the people returned to do their stuff like it was nothing. "Are you OK?" Cream asked.

"Yeah." Wave answered. "I am not even hurt. No thanks to that clown. Were you nearby?"

"No. I noticed the countdown going down. I panicked a bit." She explained. "Stupid Tails, putting shit like this on the bracelets." She complained. That was a good point: would the bracelet do something to Cream because she was't the fox? It didn't sound outside from what he would do. "Do you think we should get home?"

"We better. That guy is not going to give up like that. I know it."

After that, the girls searched for Rouge, hoping to find her and get away from the bar. However, the bat was nowhere near their sight. Ten minutes had gone away at this point. "Rouge is the one who needs a bracelet to keep her in check." Cream commented. Without anywhere to search in the lower floor of the bar, they went upstairs, where people went to have a more intimate moment than down there, as long as they paid later.

"Dammit, where is she?" Wave said. However, then the giant ape that appeared with the unconsciousness bat on his shoulders. "Oh, thank..." Wave started, full of relief. However, she then noticed that a dog, a lynx and a wolf came in too, blocking the entrance to the room they were in. After that, they dropped Rouge to the floor. "...Fuck." Wave cursed, knowing something was off.

Cream pulled out her wispon, only to get taken away by something squashy and sticky. To her disgust, it was the tongue of a frog, coming from behind them. "Ew." Was all what Cream could say.

"Now girls, we need to talk." Appearing behind the gorilla, was a certain teal bird from before.


	19. Bar fight

"You motherfucker." Wave snapped.

"Wave, calm down." Cyan said.

"YOU HAD THIS WHOLE CIRCUS PLANNED OUT, DIDN'T YOU? ALL THAT CRAP ABOUT WANTING TO HELP ME AND RECONSTRUCT IS BULLSHIT!"

"I really didn't know you were here. And I mean when I said we need help. I also know that your place is with the birds too, not with these people." Cyan said.

"OH, DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT!" Wave answered. At this moment, Cream put a hand on her shoulder, making the swallow look at her.

"Wave, I will handle it." Cream whispered.

"I promise, I will end this as fast as I can. Take the bracelet away from her." Cyan ordered. The other animals, minus the gorilla, surrounded them.

"It is not so simple." Cream answered.

"Making yourself the difficult, heh? Take the bracelet away from her!" He repeated

Cream only put her hand on the bracelet and shook it a bit. Suddenly, the countdown started, 15 appearing and going down.

"CREAM." Wave screeched in panic, grabbing her head.

"STOP!" Cyan answered. The anthros grunted their anger, but complied.

The rabbit then stopped, the countdown disappearing at the number 13.

"You are not in control of the situation." Cream said, with a chilly expression. Wave was concerned, and from what she could see, so was Cyan. The rest looked either bored or frustrated, probably thinking this was too tedious.

"Listen, you will remove that bracelet, or we eliminate you. I see me in full control, considering you are outnumbered and outgunned."

"The moment the bracelet stops receiving any signal from me, if you kill me or just remove my hand, Wave blows up. The same happens if you try to forcefully remove the bracelet. So, playing any of your cards will end up having your objective gone." Cream explained. Wave opened her eyes a lot. Tails said she would only loose her hand but Cream said they would both blow up. Did Tails not tell her the truth or was Cream faking it? Could it be he made the countermeasure if the other person with the bracelet wasn't the fox? Honestly, none of that seemed outside of the realm of possibility.

He observed, biting his beak so that it would not shake. "The bat for Wave, then." He said.

"Wow, that's such a great exchange." Cream said with sarcasm. "Seriously, that girl has 'frienemy' status with everyone I know. Not to mention she is wanted in thirteen countries." Cream replied more seriously.

"So, you don't care for anything that may happen to her?" He said, pointing a wispon at the bat laying on the floor.

"I loooouuuuvaaaa piiiachhhaaa. sssseeeexxxx, doooouk aaaaat kiiiiit." Rouge mumbled, somewhat incoherently.

Cream tried to look at ease, but she couldn't, already feeling sweat drops going down her head. "I can't take it off."

"Don't give me that..."

"I am not the slave driver. I am another victim, one that he knows won't even try to escape from him." Cream explained.

"Him?"

"Tails the fox." Cream said with a shit eating grin, noticing how those simple words removed the color from the birds face, almost like he had seen a ghost. Immediately, Cyan looked hesitant. "Not so brave anymore." Cream stated.

But, just at that moment, the gorilla walked forward, pushing the bird softly to the side. "Interesting." The gorilla said. "Bring that fox." He said, smiling.

"You don't know what you are doing!" Cyan said, reasonably afraid.

"Relax Romeo. We will handle this." He said. Cyan desired to intervene but the lynx and the wolf put themselves in front of him, stopping him on his tracks.

"Look, girlie, we were here for the money that this piece of shit was offering. But now, we want a swing at the fox."

"That is going to be a problem, considering he is straight." Cream casually commented.

"Don't pretend to not know what we want, unlike this dumb ass back there." He said, pointing with his thumb behind him.

"You are the dumb ass!" Cyan shouted again, this time, getting hit in the stomach for opening his mouth.

"... Do you really think you will have a chance of eliminating Tails? Are you kidding me?" Cream replied, sassy. "Robots, aliens, armies, nothing could keep up with him, as a kid. That guy is going to eviscerate every single one of you if he comes in here."

"With the right setup, he won't." He commented. "The phone." The frog opened its mouth and inserted his hand, pulling out a suitcase. From it, he extracted a cellphone.

"Wave, prepare for a fight. We take Rouge from them and then we can do something about this." Cream whispered.

"Leave things to you, right?" Wave half-growled. Cream only squinted her eyes.

"Whatever you are planning, it is useless." The gorilla said. Then, he passed the cellphone to Cream. "Call him."

Cream slowly got close to him, extending her arm, almost touching the phone, only to suddenly jump from her position and swang her ears, hitting him with them.

(The fuck). The gorilla wasn't expecting the little rabbit to smash him with enough strength to sent him flying, about a meter up. And, between that small gap, Wave slipped, going with a straight line to the unconscious bat. She then stood up as fast as she could, running and jumping to the dog. The later tried to stop her, but Wave managed to use him as a support and get a little further. However, the frog got in front of the bat, blocking the swallow from her objective. The dog and the wolf soon surrounded her while Cyan kept his distance, surprised by how fast things were happening.

The swallow tried to kick one of the opposing animals, but he had no trouble avoiding it and respond with a kick of his own. The last attack grazed the swallow, but for the most part she was fine. The other animal launched a punch, closer than the kick, but not hitting her yet. However, Wave knew that she wasn't going to be able to do much more than dodge, for much longer.

Meanwhile, Cream ran on the gorilla's body, thinking he was down. Suddenly, he grabbed the rabbit's foot. "Biiitch." He growled, barely audible, lifting Cream like she was a doll and trying to slam her into the floor. He would have succeeded, had the rabbit not used her strong ears as arms to stop herself, thought, pain still flowed through her body.

He aimed to try that again, this time however, Cream smashed his hand with an ear, making him let her go. Still, Cream was sent flying thanks to such act, upward to be specific. Cream used this to her advantage, impulsing herself from the ceiling and aiming toward the swallow. "Wave down!" She screamed.

The swallow barely had time to react, ducking. The three mercenaries tried to escape but Cream's ears were long enough to wrap around the wolf and dog and then smash the two of them against the frog, all that too fast for them to react. Then, wrapping both ears ends, she made it crash on them, like a sledgehammer strike. She tried to repeat it, but the lynx appeared, sinking his claws on the rabbit's ears, causing her to bleed. "Gyaaah." Cream shouted. She shook them, and the lynx jumped away.

The feline run to Cream, who tried to stop him with her ears, but he was able to dodge them. Cream also tried using her arms and legs to defend herself, but they proved useless against the speedy cat, who ran quickly past her, and slashed her, ripping the upper part of her virgin killer sweater. To the lynx dismay, she was wearing a sport bra.

"Oh, well." He said, licking the blood from his paws. "I guess I will do it again." He was looking forward to undressing her further. Then Wave kicked him in the head, pushing him near the rabbit. Cream tried to hit him with her ears, but he bounced fron the floor, avoiding the full blunt of the attack. He still got hit in the arm thought.

"Oh, so you get to wear a bra?!" Wave said, angry.

"Not now." She answered with the same tone.

(What now?) Cyan thought. On one hand, this mercs could get either of them killed. On the other hand, it was probable that he would never have a chance like this: to rescue Wave and maybe even stop Tails once and for all. He looked at his wispon, the only long range weapon in the room. He had made his decision.

"Move it girl." Cream ordered and Wave followed. In a swift manner, she grabbed the bat with both her ears and carried her away. The girls would have escaped them, had it not being by two well times shots coming from the sides, grazing their legs ans unabling them to move. The shots, came from Cyan and the wispon.

"Sorry Wave. But I can't let you go like that." He stated. Cream, as her answer, threw Rouge at him. "The fu..." Was all he said, before the body crashed against his.

However, that last ditch effort would prove to be useless, as the other animals grabbed the girls, stopped them and started punching them. The gorilla, in particular, was having a blast hurting Cream.

"Stop it. We need them alive." One of them screamed. Soon, they grabbed the girls, put them on chairs and tied them up.

"Tails... will fuck... you all." Cream spat, feeling some blood coming to her mouth, new bruises forming.

"We will see about that." The gorilla said. Then, his allies came with a tequila bottle. "Now, drink."

Elsewhere

'Wiiiir' 'Wiiiiir' An alarm rang in the fox house.

(Great, now what?) He thought. His worries were soon pacified as he realized that particular alarm was about the analysis he made to Wave, finally finding something. With a few orders introduced to his computer, the machine send it's findings.

"Black Creatures..." He said. On one hand, that made sense: Shadow was modified with Black Arms' DNA to become the ultimate lifeform. On the other hand, this smelled fishy: to make that modification, they requiered of the scientific mind of Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather, since they could not do such splicing with their weird technology. Who or what could be aiding them this time?

Either way, the fox knew what he had to do. He used his computer to contact Angel Island.

"This is a restricted line. Give your code of activation or leave the line immediatelly."

"4521 code fluffiness 9893." Answered the fox.

"... Holy... In a minute." The surprised echidna said.

Tails only waited for about a minute. "You have some guts to call, Miles." Shade the echidna waited at the other side.

(Ugh, nothing to make you feel uneasy like not being called by your nickname.) Tails thought. "I am out of options."

"You say that a lot lately." Shade jabbed.

"Look, is Shadow still on the island?"

"Yeah, he is still hanging out with Tikal."

"OK, I will send someone there that needs help. She was altered like Shadow so he could serve as..."

"Miles Prower!" The scream from the echidna stopped the fox completely. "Remember who is in charge. I don't care your friends take your nonsense. I won't. Explain yourself clearly and I might take the request."

Tails felt the claws on his hands extend at such a challenge, but deep down, he knew she had all the cards and he didn't have any.

He sighed, conceiding her the victory. "Look, Wave the swallow arrived on our dimension, after being away for about 10 years. She was modified by the Black Creatures, alien invadors that came a few years before we even met. Shadow was also modified by said creatures."

"Continue."

"I have made several studies and evaluations to Wave and Shadow, notes that could prove useful for the analysis. But your machines at Angel Island would give you the definite truth. I wanted to know if it was possible for your scientist to cleanse any signal of Black Arms alteration from the swallow."

"I see. Will we be seeing you with her?"

"I will send her. I don't plan on stepping on Echidna ground ever again." Tails confessed.

"What if the condition for your deal is that you come here?"

"You would not do something so petty." Tails said and Shade had to admit she would not, althought she kept it to her. "Also, Wave has no idea that the Black Arms tinkered with her. She believes that she would become a radioactive monster. Tell her that you have an experimental cure. The Black Arms are spying through her. Both her eyes and ears are compromised. Do not give her any signicant information."

"Wait, she is a sleeper agent and you want to put her in the most conservative island on the world?"

"Shade, please, I am really desperate right now." Tails begged. He hated begging, but knew it was the only way to deal with Shade.

"And you have considered what will you do about her being a sleeper agent from the enemy?" Tails remained silent at her question. "You can't keep her trapped there forever, not to mention she could be a threat to your life. If this guys genetically altered her, then I would not think it is outside the realm of possibility that they have some kind of trap or hidden trigger to her."

Tails started to sweat more. "Will you accept her?" He hoped to end the conversation soon.

"Tomorrow. It is past midnight, so today is a no."

"Fine." He was about to cut the call when...

"Say thank you." Shade demanded.

"...Thank you." He said, a little hesitant.

"Just for that doubt I should cancel the date." Shade answered. Tails looked unamused. "We will receive her tomorrow. You are dismissed." She answered and cut the call.

"That woman needs to get laid."

Before he could do anything else, another call came. "What do you want?" Tails answered, wanting to have nothing to do with whoever that was.

He was slightly freaked out by the hyena like laughter heard at the other side of the phone. It was three different screams and laughter drilling through his computer.

"Then I called the polishe!" That was the voice of Cream, one that instantly sent an alarm to him. "HAHAHAHAHA." Apparently, she had ended a joke and the bursts of laughter came again.

"AUAUAUAUAUA!" One of them was practically howling at that point.

"Real guuud!" Another voice came, before also blowing up in laughs.

Tails ended the call for them. (Chaos, those girls really lost it this time.)

He was not done and used the computer to find where the girls had crashed. It was a bar, not that far away from Station Square. He had resigned in going and find the girls, but not without a little preparation.

 _Back at the bar_

Tails checked his GPS before entering in the stripper bar. According to it, the girls where on the second floor of the stablisment. He entered and noticed that, it was a male stripper bar. (Fan-fucking-tastic) He went directly to the bartender.

"Hey, what does the fox say?" He joked. Tails didn't even blink.

"I need to go the second floor."

"Each room cost 300 and you get to take one of the husky guys there. I know a few would enjoy the company of a kitsune."

"I am here to pick up some girls. If everything goes alright, this should be fast."

"Fine. They are in the door 207." He said. Tails lifted a single eyelid.

Tails walked away, without another word. The bartender only observed him go upward. When the fox was out of sight, he looked at the roof. Hanging on a hidden corner was the lynx, holding himself with three of his arms and his tail, while pointing at the bartender with a wispon. "There, I did what you wanted."

"Good. That would be all." The lynx answered, let himself go to the floor without making any noise and followed the fox with moderate distance.

"205, 206... 207." He found the designated room. However, he did not enter immidiately. He waited outside of the room and tried to listen. It was low muttering for a moment, before suddenly.

"Mariiiiiiiiiaaaaaa!" Rouge screamed, loud enough that Tails thought his eardrum would blow up. Her tone however, was deep. If he had to guess, she was impersonating Shadow.

"I sheer to Chaos he wanted to bang bang banga baenga that girl." Rouge complained.

"Nut worshe tan Chet! Re hangs sjis boards!" Wave exclamed, somehow more incoherent than the bat.

"Coooosssmoooo!" That word made Tails claws come out completely and in less than a second, hurting his own hand since he had his fists clenched. "I killed heeeer. My oneeee truuuueeee wuuuuuv! Aii weeelll never wuuuuv agaiin!" This time, it was Cream. "Tails is sacch a batch at times. And dat gurl washent that gud, the little cry..."

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Tails roared, already inside the room. He had to walk a short corridor to get to them, but when he did, he observed that the three girls were tied up with ropes to their chairs, giving their backs to the other. Cream in particular had chains on her ears, no permitting her to use her deadly weapon. Tails only noticed all of this after he had entered the room and screamed at them, when the rage stopped blinding him. (Oh shit!) He thought.

A punch crashed against his face, shaking his vision for a moment. Then, something sticky and humid wrapped around his neck, chocking him. He struggled against the thing on his neck, but was immediatelly punched in the stomach. After that, his body went limp.

"Hah, and this is the feared Tails? Pathetic." The gorilla said, ready to launch the finishing blow.

"Wait, we need him alive to remove the handcuffs from Wave."

(So, that's why they lured me.) Tails thought. The fox wasn't unconciouss, limp or even all that hurt, but he needed to do something about the thing that is squeezing his neck. (If I don't do this fast, I will really lose conciousness.)

He then felt how someone was chaining his tails, not that different from Cream's case.

"Really Romeo? You lost your chance with her."

"I don't care. She is coming with me. Plus, I bet you would rather take the other girls for yourself or something. They are hot. We can't separate them unless we do something about that."

"Now, you are talking my language." The gorilla said.

(How many? There are two different voices, two guys in charge. Someone is stretching this thing on my neck.) Tails thought. After that, his arms were grabbed, aiming to limit his offensive capacities even more. (These are two more. I wonder if there is one or more out there to ambush someone. I think I have enough information.) He thought.

After that, they wrapped a bandana on his eyes. "Ok, foxy, all you have to do is free the swallow from this handcuffs." At that moment, the gorilla started to move uncomfortably, feeling like something was moving through his fur.

"Who is the... leader here? Who... set this up?" Tails asked, struggling to get the words out.

"Well, I am the leader here." Said the gorilla, still looking uncomfortable and restless.

"But you are... listening to someone... else here."

"Oh, yeah, bird Rome over there found her and is obsesed about her."

"Don't give him more information!" Cyan said.

(Of course it had to be a bird)

"Set free Wave and we will end your..." Cyan tried to sound serious, but the feeling of something running through his feathers became his priority. He started ruffling his feather, angry. "Do you people have fleas!?" Cyan shouted at them. Suddenly, the entire group was searching for something on their fur.

"Fuck you, we were fine until you came into the group." One answered. "Plus, this things are too big to be fleas."

"Ay dun hall nortlin." The frog tried to say.

"You are all fucked up gentlemen..." Tails started, not sounding choke up anymore. At that exact moment, one of them finally managed to catch whatever that was. But it was anything but what they imagined: a small metalical mouse. In unison all the mice made themselves visible, on their shoulders, close to their faces. "...But I will have more fun with the bird than anyone else." Tails ended.

At the same time, all the mice blew up. The explosion were small, not nearly strong enough to kill any of them, but they were temporarily blinded and hurt, all but the frog.

Tails then moved a bit, trying to find out where the resistance was. With that found out, he guessed where to grabbed and pulled his captor closer, using his tails. He also managed to free his neck. "Waaah." The frog screamed.

Tails then removed the wraps from his face. After pulling the foe closer, he pressed him against the floor, thanks to his special appendages. (A frog? Then that means...) He comprehended that the tool they used to catch him, was a tongue. Aka, flesh. The feeling of vomit didn't make itself wait. (Keep it in, keep it in) He thought, putting a hand on his mouth.

Then, he felt something pushing him to the floor. Tails then tried to stand up and hit him with his elbow, but his attacker was too fast. Now, he observed it was a lynx, possibly the guy hidden, until he had to save his allies. Now, the frog was also free and ready for combat.

"Not one more move." He heard from behind. The bird was pointing the white wispon at the girls.

Tails was distracted long enough that the lynx made a mad dash and sank his claws on Tails' stomach.

"Gah." Tails let go a dry scream, this hurting much more than it should. (The wound...) He thought, knowing it had opened again.

Tails fell on his knees, hurt, but the lynx was not convinced and he was ready to deliver a deadly blow at the fox. His aim was the fox eyes, but with a slight movement, he missed his intended target, slashing the muzzle and nose. Tails fell on his back but the lynx jumped and tried to attack him again.

"We need him alive!" Cyan scream fell on the deaf ears of the lynx, already to late to stop his assault.

Luckily, the fox was not quite down yet. On the last second, he rolled out of his way and, in the movement, pulled a blue wispon, the cube. As fast as he could, he pointed at the feline and shot him. The lynx would have dodged the shot, had it not being for the fact that his claws got stuck on the wood below, ending trapped in a blue cube. (One... ugh... less).

But then, the frog jumped over the fox. "Gah." He let go, the heavy animal remaining on him to restrict him. Around this time, the other animals eyesight normalized.

"Better. Now chain him up."

"We really need to eliminate him."

"Just a second. She need..." He started, his eyes locked on the fox. At least, until the sound of furniture getting dragged alarmed him, looking at the origin. The rope holding the girls was burnt, and it was the only thing holding them in place. Because of that, the three of them had fallen to the floor. "What the...?"

This time, the fox extended his left hand, and closed his fist, an arm cannon then appeared from his ring wrist. He fired it, one of the bolts hitting the white wispon and leaving it inoperable and the other shots, the fox of the gun pushed him to the wall and knocking the lights out of him.

"Seriously, give up!" The frog pressed Tails' head with his hand, to what he answered by flexing his elbow, pointing at the frog and shooting him.

This got the frog out of his back, unharmed, but Tails was able to stand up and put himself between the captors and the captives. Away from the vision of the attackers, he lowered his tails, petting the girls, trying to wake them up to help them in the fight. Immediately, the dog, wolf and gorilla ran to him, in group.

This time, Tails extended his right arm and a retractable boxing glove appeared over his hand. It extended, hitting the gorilla while the dog and wolf went to the sides, not stopped. The retractable punch continued, further, breaking through the shady establishment wall and throwing the gorilla off it, crashing hard on the cement.

Tails continued his assault with his arm cannon and the retractable glove, but the frog wasted no time in taking the arm cannon with his tongue. More confident, the wolf and the dog got close to the fox, launching their attacks. Tails could only block, taking the full blunt of the attackers, trying to find an opening.

Then, the two animals side stepped and the frog extended his tongue. Miles did not see this coming and would have being stuck to it, had it not being for the rabbit's ears that suddenly stood up, still chained. Cream then stood up too. She was continuously tilting to the sides, with each movement she made, looking too drunk to help the troubled fox.

The frog then pulled his tongue, making her fall on her face again. (Great, she is too drunk to even stand up properly.) Tails thought, thinking that he now had to take care of a drunk girl. Suddenly, the frog was pulled, falling on his face. Then, he was lifted from the floor by the rabbits ears, spinning him, the radius large enough to hit the wolf, crashing both of them to the wall. "Heh heh." She let go a high little laughter before lifting her ears again and crashing them over and over against her opponents. Around the fifth hit, the floor gave up, leaving a crater where the two hurt animals fell, crashing to the bar area.

The dog tried to get closer and attack the bigger threat, but Tails got to him first. Because his opponent was distracted, Tails was able to put his hand in the correct part of his shoulder and press. Before he knew it, the dog lost concioussness. Now, the only one remaining was Cyan, petting his sore head as he opened his eyes and... noticed the disaster in front of him.

"Oh, shit."

"Oh, shit indeed." Just at his side, Tails stood, looking down at him.

His presence and surprised made the bird jump in his place, standing up, althought tripping in his first attempt. "How?! Why were you ready?!"

"Cream doesn't get drunk in public. For as shameless as she may act, she only gets drunk in her house, away from all of us. She does feel ashamed when she can't keep it in check. The bartender was continuously looking above him, unintentionally, and he accepted too soon about me going to get the girls back. He even knew who I was talking about, not asking for a description of them or anything." Tails answered, with a shit eating grin. "Now, answer me: What were you hoping to achieve here?"

He looked down, smaller than he actually was, but made some slow, unclear movements. "I wanted..." Suddenly, he jumped at the fox, with a knife in one hand, aiming at the fox face. Tails had no problem stopping the attack mid-way, but the smile on the bird's face continued to grow.

With that in mind, Miles proceeded to punch him on the face, then grabbed his head and crashed it against his knee. He followed that with a kick to the stomach, hard enough to push him to the floor. Without missing a beat, Tails got on him and started punching his face repeatedly.

Cyan received several hits to the face before grabbing both his fists. While he stopped him for the moment, he felt the fox was stronger, gaining on him. Noticing this, Cyan opted to use his head to counterattack. Tails was shaken by the headbutt... for less than half a second, as he responded with a hit of his own, making the bird break his grip on the fox.

The fox stood up and, harshly, stepped on the beak of his opponent, a loud *crack* came from the act. "GYYYYAAAAAA!" He screeched, interrupted by a kick.

"I am tired of this." And with that, three mice jumped from his sleeves and landed on the bird's body. Tails turned around, in direction to the stairs and, when Cyan let go a sky piercing scream, he could not help but smile, satisfied.

To his surprise, the bartender went to that room, looking surprised and scared at the fox. Miles just took out a small cilinder with silver rings, around 7 of them and put them on the registrator. "For the expenses, the damages to the property and for your silence." Tails said, but noticed the fat man kept staring at him. "What?" Tails asked checking himself out.

His shirt was battered and moistered, not by sweat, but by blood; parts of his shirt were ripped appart, showing his previous stitches and how bloody they got, thanks to his previous struggle it; but the most surprissing thing was that he had a rather big dagger on one side of his stomach. Geez, no wonder the guy was crept out by him.

Tails, however, made things a little weirder for him: He pulled another cilinder with silver rings and said, "Do you have stitches and a cauterizer?"

 _Back at his home_

The fox was somewhat relieved to be home, but the long part was still not over, as he had to take the girls out of his car and into the house. But first things first, he grabbed and put the bracelet back and reset the timer, to 20 seconds.

He then grabbed the rabbit first and took her to one of the empty bedrooms. "Sorry..." He heard her mutter.

"No worries." Tails replied.

"Shud hav... not caught."

"It is like you said... life gives everyone crap."

He then lowered the rabbit on the bed, softly. The orange girl, automatically searched for the pillow and put herself comfortable, while the fox put the sheets on her. "I want yuu be happy." The drunk girl said, drowsily. He sighed.

"We both know that is unlikely for me."

Next, was Rouge. Unlike the rabbit, the bat squirmed a lot on his back, forcing him to reajust her position over and over. "Come on foxy, bee fun." Rouge said.

Miles did not pay her much attention and just put her on the bed. The fox was ready to leave, but Rouge whistle to him, earning his attention. She was pressing her boobs with her left forearm and the right hand was on her dress, ready to start stripping in front of the fox. "Just stay a little longer." She said with her typical sexyness, but Tails just put one hand on her head.

"Not today." With that, he turned around and aimed to leave, but the bat then grabbed his hand and pulled it into something soft and warm. The fox already knew what was happening.

Refusing to turn around, while trying to fight by the blush on his face, he said. "Rouge, no."

Thia only made her tighten the grip on him and press harder against her. "I am lonely." She said, her voice was tiny, broken, ready to burst into tears at any moment. "Why none likes me?"

The yellow animal had to swallow a lump on his throat, feeling part of him was willing to accept her offer. Still, he went and softly removed her grip from her, finger by finger. Rouge showed little resistance, although each time he removed a finger, she looked a little more heartbroken.

By the time she fully released him, tears were falling. Still, getting the idea, she wrapped herself with the sheets and curled into a ball, tears starting to come with a wimper. The fox walked away, more angry at himself than he was willing to admit.

He just hoped to get Wave into her room and get some sleep. However, when he got back to the car, he noticed that the swallow was no longer there. "Aaaarrrrh." He growled, facepalming.

Still, the fox knew she could not be that far. With his bracelet, he was able to pinpoint her location. "She is in?"

Making a quick scan, he found her in the kitchen, looting a shelf. The particular position he found her in was with her head low and her butt up, which put a bit of heat on the kitsune's face.

That soon changed when Wave finally found what she was looking for: a bottle of alcohol. Now he just sighed with exasperation.

"Did you not have enough?!" He sounded angrier than he intended. He grabbed the bottle and tried to pull it away, but the swallow hold to it like her life depended on it. They struggled for a while until one of them let go of the bottle, the object breaking into several pieces.

"Happy?" Tails said, with a little venom. The swallow sucked her mucus, eyes red and puffy from crying. This disarmed him very fast, having memories of the other recent time she lost it.

Then, she threw herself at him, forcing him to the floor. Now, while Tails saw Wave nude recently, this did not prepare him to the feeling of the swallow crashing her head against his chest, and much less to the feeling of boobs, which were not supported by a bra from what he could deduce, against his body. That made him go reder than he had felt himself in years. (God, this feels so good yet so wrong!).

After a second of surprise, he finally capted the wimper coming from the purple girl, which only made him feel more upset for her. "Wave?"

"Why?" She said, in crying tone. "Why? Why? Why?"

"Wave, What is wrong?"

The swallow looked up, looking just as bad as before. "Why did we disappear?" The swallow whined.

"...I don't get it."

"Leaving was a terrible idea!" She screamed, surprising the fox a bit. "If we didn't leave, we could have done something! Fight, play, train, prepare better, something! You people almost died, the nature is devastated, and everyone is so broken that I still have trouble digesting you are yourselves!"

The fox did not reply, but gave her his complete attention. The bird woman lowered her sight again, getting comfortable against him. "I wish I had being here, because you would not have to deal with all this by yourselves. And I am sure Jet and Storm would prefer that to just disappearing."

She tightened her grip against the fox, a signal that the fox interpretted as desperation. "I hate change. I hate when I befriend someone and, thanks to my nomad lifestyle, I would meet them again. But they would be so different, with experiences and memories to share, memories I would have loved to be part of. Or they would already be gone and then I would wish I had being there for their last moments. That is one of the reasons I am so mean to people, so that I don't bond with them easily. But I always grow attached to someone and it would always hurt."

"I found comfort on the idea of Storm and Jet always at my side. They were always there, changing very little, being absolute idiots, but I always knew I could trust them. That once, on the mission, I always knew they would put their weight and we would usually succeed."

At this point, her tears continued, her voice growing more and more shaky. "But now, even they are gone. Now I am all alone."

"Wave, I know we will find them. I promise you. I will help you as much as I can, I..." Tails bit his tongue when he realized what he was saying. The words just left him with such ease that he could only ask, why.

Why they came out with such ease? Why did he sound so desperate to help her? Why was he even bothering on making her promises?

To his surprise, the swallow again looked at his eyes, before answering. "Don't make promises you can't fulfill." There was no venom or hate in her tone, just sadness and harsh honesty.

(Ouch. Ok, she usually loves her voice, loves insulting people and being harsh. She is more honest when she is drunk).

"Let's get a good night of sleep first." He suggested, hoping she would move off for a moment. She didn't. "Could you stand up?"

"You are too cuddly." Wave answered, with no intention of moving away.

Tails groaned a bit, but decided to work with these conditions. Slowly, he forced himself to stand up using only his legs and tails, while his hands and arms were wrapped around the bird woman, not wanting to let her fall. It was a pleasant surprise that Wave was much lighter than Rouge or Cream, permitting him to carry her with just his arms.

His original objective was getting her to her respective room, but when he did, she refused to break from the hug, holding tightly to the fox. "Seriously Wave, let go." Tails tried to shake her off, fully letting go of her and hoping gravity would do the rest. To his surprise, Wave wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his torso, which only made him feel even more flustered and in conflict.

"No."

(God, since when she is this pampered?) He thought. Still, because he was tired, sleepy and mentally foggy, he complied again, except, he took her to his room. The logic behind this was that his bed was a little bigger than all of the guests beds, so they would be more comfortable.

So, he managed to find a way to have both of then laying on the bed, while never separating. It was weird at first, but he had to admit he enjoyed it a bit. He was tired and felt happiness for being on his bed. Even if Wave made things weird and the thought of the earful he would get tomorrow lingered, sleep caught him with ease. He looked at the woman in his arms, sleeping peacefully. She didn't looked bothered by him at all.

(Lucky bitch.) He thought and closed his eyes. However, the last thing he remembered, was thinking that she looked beautiful, just before sleeping deeply.

 _Elsewhere_

'Beep. Beep. Beep.' That was the only thing that made a sound on the room. The hospital had recently received a bunch of animals, of different species, heavily battered and hurt. A gorilla, a lynx, a wolf, a dog and a frog. While all of them had broken bones, several bruises and hemorragia, none of them came close to the wounds the bird of the group had.

Most of his plumage was gone, his exposed skin was burnt on several areas, his eyes were completely purple for the bruises, even his beak was bent, harshly. Every part of his body sent wave after wave of pain, the only thing keeping him alive were the several machines connected to him, including a breather. However, he could tell his days were counted.

"Cyan." A voice came, a visit, even though the doctors told him he would be to delicate to receive any. He knew who that was.

He moved his eyes, the only thing he could do without agonizing. It was another bird.

"Who did this?" He asked, profesionally and directly.

His beak shoke uo violently, as he felt his body in fire, just because he had to voice his thoughts. "Tails." He muttered, barely understandable, but the bird understood.

"What made you think you had a chance?" He sounded disappointed, thinking the thought should have never crossed Cyan's mind.

"Wave." Cyan said. The other bird looked surprised. Then, Cyan, with a very shaky hand, removed the mask from his mouth, using the last bit of his strenght. At that moment, the beeping increase, becoming very erratic. "Wave... the swallow... is trapped... with him." And with that, the beeping became a single long bip, as life abandoned his body.

* * *

Author note: God, this fanfic is a year old already (in a few days, but still)?! And if it ends up being as long as I have it planned, we are only about quarter in!

God, that is a lot of time! I am both worried and happy about that! Thanks for all the support everyone. Let's see where this goes!


	20. You should have not done that

"My head." The rabbit said, lifting her head from the bed. She wished she hadn't, feeling his head was going to blow up, a simple side effect of the abuse of alcoholic drinks. Cream would have liked to complain about how could people spend so much money in something so painful, but she would be a hypocrite.

Still, she then found some pills and water at the little night stand at her, with a note that said 'for the hangover'. Without a second thought, she drank it, hoping to ease her pain.

A quick scan to the room reveled that it was Tails' mechanical house. She wasn't all that fond of the place, making her feel a little claustrophobic and uncomfortable. Felt more like a factory or a workplace than a home.

So, she hoped to stay there the least amount of time. Making her way to the outside, she encountered Rouge, with her hands on her head, looking just as messy as herself.

"What a beautiful morning this is." Cream joked, well aware of how much Rouge hated mornings.

"Go fuck yourself." Rouge answered, the hangover much worse than Cream's. The rabbit smile innocently, well aware of what she was doing.

The girls were not that familiarized with the structure, so they walked through the structure, opening a few doors in hopes to find the exit... And accidentally finding the fox and the swallow cuddling against one another.

Cream looked concerned, while Rouge smiled. "I think we should do something." The rabbit said.

"Agree." And Rouge pulled out a camera and got a picture of the two sleeping anthros.

"Really?" Cream looked at her with disbelief.

"Blackmailing fuel: There is always room for more. Now let's get out of here." Rouge suggested.

"We can't leave them like that." Cream reasoned.

"Think it this way: no matter what we do, Wave will either remember what happened or wake up before the fox and know what happened. We can't diffuse this no matter how much we might want to. We better be far from the blast radius."

Cream made her mouth a small line. "OK." Admittedly, the bat was not wrong.

So, after some trial and error, the girls managed to leave the structure, just in time as the swallow was soon going to wake up.

Admittedly, Wave didn't feel like waking up. She felt something warm was just on her, warm and nice and the headache that was forming seemed less awful when she cuddled against it. It was soft as clothing, but, from what she could tell, whatever was below was both hard and soft, even if that sounded weird in her mind.

So, she managed to fall asleep again. A few hours later, it would be the fox who woke up foggy. He had somewhat forgotten what happened, at least, until he saw the swallow that was on him.

And remembered that, under the dress, she was not wearing any intimate clothing. That made things weird for a moment, but the heat went away rather quickly. He moved a bit, but the bird moved with him, ending back to the same position.

It was at this moment that Tails felt a stab of pain flow through his body, making him wince a bit. (Chaos, they hurt me more than I expected). He thought, thinking of the severity of his past wounds. With the bartender, he closed most of his small wounds, but he still had his huge stitches running through his stomach. Not to mention he probably needed a blood transplant, or something serious might happen.

Even in his position, he observed at the bird, still sleeping pacifically. (She looks good. Also smells good.) The thought ran through his mind, not really paying it much attention immediately.

However, this thought then returned, like the crash of a meteorite. (She smells good?!") He thought, trying to jump away from the bird woman, like she suddenly became fire or something similar and fell to the floor. Wave felt the shift, enough to wake her up.

"Waahhh." She said sleepy, before grabbing her head hard, feeling like she had been ran over by a bus or something. "Awwwwww."

Tails limited to hand her the pills and the water. Without any thought, she drank them full. She then noticed the fox. "Tails? What are you doing in my room so early?"

"It is 2 pm." The fox answered, which made the bird woman open her eyes a lot. "Also, it is my room." He said, before walking out. It took her about two seconds to blow up.

"Whaaaaaaaat!?" She screamed, which only worsened her headache.

Right now, that mattered nothing to the fox, who realized that the drug he took the day Wave returned was wearing off, much sooner than he expected.

(Most be because of all the bleeding) He thought. (Should also do something about the blood I lost in the fight.)

He had a blood in his infirmary, for this kind of situation: he used it after Wave left for the bleeding caused by the crash from yesterday. He probably needed another smaller infusion after yesterday. However, a certain bird woman was still going bonkers at the fact that she was in a bed with him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She shouted.

"Nothing." He replies.

"I highly doubt that." She says, following him. Tails just ignores her, going to the elevator. "What? Cat got your tongue? Are you ashamed about the situation? Are you that little kid I knew before?..." The pain going on her head was nothing compared to the desire of letting the fox know what was on her mind. They traveled by elevator and, even when they arrived at the infirmary, the swallow continued to voice her complains. "...Seriously, how do keep making things more and more complicated?!"

However, Tails only focused on preparing the blood transfusion. He grabbed a blood bag from a fridge he had there and prepared to warm it up before introducing it to his body. He also activated his computer on the infirmary, to scan himself and get a reading on how much blood he needed. "Huh, so you are still semi-normal." Wave commented.

"Don't exaggerate." Tails answered. The swallow searched and found a metal tube, to what Tails suspended the blood bag. She also brought a catheter.

"You got stabbed with a piece of metal and got it out like it was nothing. If I didn't know any better, I would say you are a zombie." She pointed out. Tails sat down on the bed and introduced the needle, starting the blood transfusion.

"Bitch I might be." He said. "Now, if you don't mind, leave so I can get this done soon."

"Geez, someone is moody today." She joked, but decided to comply. Either way, she had more important things to take care about, like finding out what the heck did he do to her in the room. In a straight journey, she arrived to the bedroom. Before entering however, he disabled the vigilance computers, thinking it would be for the best.

Quickly checking the bed and the sheets, she did not found any incriminating substance. After that, she took a closer inspection to the room, pretty much the same, except that the bed was at least twice the size of hers.

(Maybe he just thought we would fit better.) The more rational side of her thought.

Still, she inspected the room in detail, hoping to find something. She herself was not sure what. She found a syringe inside the night stand, but beyond that, there was nothing of interest. Although, she wondered what was the needle for. It was one of those pistol thingies that you put a syringe in, in cases you don't need to make a precise shot. That only made it odder.

Suddenly, Wave felt like the floor below her moved, making her fall on her butt. "Ouch" She said, petting her hurt area. However, something more interesting happened. The floor below her had moved, only a little, but now that she found it, she moved it fully, checking its insides.

And she smiled as the first thing she noticed was a photo in great state of the whole gang, even the rogues, together. It was a sad smile, but she felt glad that he had something like this into what she could only guess was his secret place.

However, there was also a black box in there. It was locked, but it was nothing for the Swallow. Ripping one feather from hear (which generated a tear on her eyes) she used the tip to undo the lock. It took her three feather to managed to do so.

What she found however, made her open her eyes like she had never before. It had a large container and another syringe, both full of a substance, but without any labels. This concerned her a lot.

(OK, don't panic. What does this means? Maybe he is a hunter? Nah, he would not have a syringe. He probably got this for something. Something legal. Right?) She negotiated with herself, but it was not going to get her far. Why would the fox have an specific drug hidden in his room, instead of his lab or infirmary, with a syringe full of it?

It freaked her out to think that Tails would be a drug addict, but it made sense. After all, how else could he power through pain like it was nothing? Then again, why could he walk and move like it was nothing? Heck, drugs kill brain cells, so he should have plenty of cerebral malfunctions, but he was still as smart as ever, if not more. She really wished to determine exactly what she had in her hands, but getting to the lab or infirmary would probably mean passing through Tails, his cameras and his firewalls. She didn't think that was an option. At least at the moment.

Tails was an extremely heavy sleeper, so if she could find him asleep and then took the things, she would likely have no trouble to take it, make the analysis she wanted, put it back and make the proper preparations so the fox couldn't trace her, or have evidence of her tinkering. Once with an idea of what this was, maybe she could confront him and see what was wrong.

Honestly, she wanted to help him: Tails had only received crap these few years, so it made sense why would he have some kind of addiction. After all, everyone seemed to need to cope in some way. She understood. However, this would come and bite him on the butt because drugs had grave mental effects, possibly returning Tails to the state of being unable to build anything. She would never desire that to her worst enemy. Of course, she was also aware of the risk of such actions: drug withdrawal is a horrendous feeling and, given the fox actual state of mind, who knew what he would dare to do in that state.

Then another idea came to her mind: Why not simply confront the fox and see what this was exactly? With exception of keeping her locked up in the house, Tails had not done anything all that terrible. He gave her a place to be, helped her get use to the modern designs of the boards, and even open up to her, slowly but surely. Honestly, it felt fair to give him the benefit of the doubt.

(No! Tails might be warming up to you, but he is still not quite that close to you. You were never friends. It is too early to think we are close enough. Not to mention what everyone, even his friends, think about him. It is better this way.) Was her next thought.

She put the things back on their place, thinking to execute her plan when the time was right.

 _Hours later_

It was deep in the night, a little earlier than when Tails and Wave spent a good part of the night just talking to each other. On top of her common clothing, she was also wearing a black jacked, with the zipper completely up. She wasn't confident the fox would not bring trouble, but it felt like this was the best time to do the sneaking around. She gulped one last time, but she armed herself with courage and entered. Without looking at the fox, she made a mad dash to the movable compartment and get the black box. She opened the box, searching for the syringe, but didn't find it, or, at least, the one that had the substance earlier. Instead, there was an empty one.

The swallow froze when she realized this, thinking the worse. Perhaps Tails saw through her? Slowly and completely afraid for her life, she looked up, but the fox still looked completely gone in his sleep. So, her next thought was going to the night table and, as she hoped, the shot was right there, full of something. She decided to put them both inside the jacket, thinking that, if he got back the box, he would at least not have any way to administrate it. Here, she heard the fox grumble a bit, which made her scream just a little. She eyed the fox again, but this time, she noticed him grimacing, looking as if he was in pain.

Wave wanted to do something, but decided to at least get this thing out before doing that. She stepped close and the metal door opened...

"GAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Wave swore her soul left her body at that moment. Turning around again, she noticed the fox sweating and shaking violently. Then, a second scream came.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He screamed again, lifting his torso from the bed and opening his eyes.

"GAAAAAAA!" Wave screamed, surprised.

After that, there was a bit of a stare down between them, both too stunned to react. But then, the first wave of headaches started for the fox. That served as a wake up call, as the fox recognized that Wave had the black box. Then, he heard it on his mind. (Kill her.) Tails was not going to give into those thoughts, but he needed the shots to do so. Without further warning, he jumped to the swallow.

(OH, SHIT!) She ran away from him, still with the black box in her arms. The fox ran after her, going as fast as his body let him. Which meant that the swallow was keeping her head start.

Tails could have stopped her: Modifying the length of the bracelet distance, activating a lock-down mode, sending some of his robots after her. But none of these ideas appeared on his mind. None could, not with the constant inner desire for causing harm steadily growing and growing. The swallow was not in a better position, since her only desire at the time, was running away from him with all her might. The idea of what this fox would do, looking severely drug depraved, was not a pretty one and no other thought could push that priority away from her mind.

However, the fox was able to use one advantage at his favor... He knew the architecture of the building better. At one point, Tails stopped following the bird woman, taking an alternate route that converged to her direction. Wave noticed it, but decided to continue on her trek, something she would later think was a mistake, as Tails suddenly appeared in front of her. She stopped a few steps from him.

(Kill her!) Another scream came, feeling like another hit to his head. Then, he actually felt a hit on his head. Wave threw a kick right on his nose, hoping to be enough to push him or something, but the fox didn't move an inch. Right after the hit, he pushed the shallow leg to the sides, making her loose footing and falling. Still, the hugged the box and pressed it hard against her. Tails wasted no time, trying his best to grab the box away from her. He tried to put his hands around the object, but Wave would turn around and give him the back each time he even tried to. (KILL!) He heard again, much louder than he expected.

He knew that time was running out. He needed the injection now. So, without much restraint left, he stomped Wave on her oblique. "UGGHH." The swallow twisted in pain, but then folded her legs, similar to a fetal position, aiming to protect the box even more. Tails continued stomping on that area, over and over again.

Wave only growled to the sound of each strike, getting louder and louder with each. Finally, a hit made one of her hands go to her side, leaving just enough of an opening for Tails to grab the box and forcefully, take it away from her. She stood up and limped her way from the fox. Meanwhile, the fox looked like he had found a treasure, he almost threw himself to the floor to grab the box and make a mad dash, away from her and back to his room.

There, he looked over his shoulder, making sure that the bird woman had left. He let go a held air when he was satisfied. (Thank God, I might be able to defuse this situation. It doesn't have to get to that. I still have time.) Relief washed over him.

He slowly opened the box... and found that the syringes were gone.

"No..." He whispered. "No, no, nonononononono. NOOOOOO!" He screamed. (Wave. That imbecilic bitch. Why?! Why did she have to fuck this so hard?!) "GAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Wave had not left the floor they were in, but she knew the screams that the fox released could be heard anywhere in the complex.

She knew that she could not run from him, not with the bracelet still on her arm. Really, her most useful thing against him, was the shot she stole. But the whole point of this was analyzing it, see what it was and, specially, not let him take it again to help him with the addiction. But this was much more than she bargained for.

She really questioned why her recent decisions only lead to disaster. They felt extremely short sighted in hindsight.

She thought about finding a place to hide or something, but... For how long could she keep it up?

She started to think which part of the house would be the best to hide in... When...

'Sob. Sob. Sob.' She heard it. Coming from the fox's room.

"You gotta be kidding me." The swallow thought out loud. "After attacking me, kicking me, all for that box, he is crying?!" Honestly, it felt like completely out of place. "It is a trick, that's the only explanation. He hopes to lure me and then do something about the shots. But I am not falling for that."

She just turned around, deciding to just leave like that... But she couldn't. She could not just leave. "C'mon! He is Tails the fox. He is easily one of the toughest person you have known. He can take it..." Then, it landed on her, as her face steadied, decisively. "But he doesn't have to do it alone."

And with that, she moved to Tails' room. Slowly, she opened the door, just sticking out her head at first. "...Shorty?" She asked.

Not that different from herself, he was curled up into a ball, around the black box, still sobbing. Suddenly, his ears perked up. "Wave!" He sat where he was in a blink of an eye, something that made Wave want to run. She was barely holding her fear in check. "Wave." It looked like he tried to stand up, but only managed to get stuck mid way and then fall on his face.

However, still not giving up, he crawled, slowly, getting closer to the bird woman. The kitsune was barely moving, using only his hands to drag himself forward. The claws from his fingers were out, leaving marks each time he put one on the floor. "Wave. Help... me." He said. "The injection. I need the injection!"

"No. You don't need it." Wave answered, still behind the door, for the most part.

"I. Need. It." He said, while pressing his teeth. His desperation was clear.

He was getting to the door and opened fully. Wave waited there and there, still very worried about all of this, but she felt he needed the support.

She just sat on her knees, waiting for him, even if every cell on her told her to escape. Tails had finally gotten to her, touching her knee first, straightening his body and putting both hands on the girl shoulders, partly to support his own weight. Wave shook visibly when that happened, sweating of uneasiness, but managed to maintain the calm, with her eyes closed.

"The. SHOT!" He screamed right on Wave's face. The later grimaced but didn't reply. "...Please." Suddenly, he sounded choked up, accompanied by some sniff of mucus. "It hurts... It hurts so much..." He lowered his head. Wave now opened her eyes, looking at the wounded fox, desperate for help, for understanding.

Wave then put her hands on his shoulders, making him open his eyes. Strangely, his eyes had changed color again, not green, but yellow this time. But Wave understood this was not the time, and that, if the time came, it would be him the one to decide.

"Tails. I can't comply to what you ask." When the words came out, Tails looked like a little kid, which might start crying at any moment. "Look at yourself! Crawling at the floor like a worm, with no shame. You are an incredibly smart person, but right now you can't even walk straight! Heck, you attacked me. Rather brutally if you ask me." Wave snapped at the fox, putting a hand on the area he stomped.

Now, he looked like a child that was just scolded. "All of that, because you have this addiction. If you don't stop it now, who knows what you might do next. Or who gets hurt. You are better than this. Much better than anyone I know." Wave stopped for a moment, eyeing the sad fox. "I promise you won't have to do it alone."

Tails lifted his head, with teary eyes, but he still refused with his head. "I can't. Not anymore."

"Yes, you can." She said. "You just need help." And with that, she put herself under his shoulder to help him stand up. She struggled to take him away, but it wasn't until Tails put some effort that they started moving. Wave then took the fox to the elevator and got him out of the building. In a matter of minutes, they were at the edge of the landing area, in front of them, a massive void.

Tails had the container on his hands, visibly shaking. He observed the canister in his hands, looking as if he had searched for this forever, but now had to get rid of it. He knew he was better without it, but he couldn't. It wasn't that easy. It simply could not. He then felt a hand on his own, touching softly. Wave pushed the container softly, while constantly touching the fox hand. It was meant to encourage the fox to do it, to finally let go of what was stopping him on his recuperation. At one moment, the push of the swallow became a little stronger, and the fox took the encouragement and pushed it away. The moment the canister was further from his reach, regret hit the mammal like a truck.

"NOOO!" Tails screamed, almost like he had murdered someone and then completely regretted it. Even in his weakened state, the fox used his legs to push himself forward, aiming to get of the cliff and try to catch the substance in mid air. Wave noticed this and grabbed the fox arm and pulled him away, using her full body weight to be able to push him to the grown.

"Dammit Tails, it is gone!" Wave screamed.

"NOOO! I NEED IT! I NEED IT!" Even with the swallow struggling, he was able to drag himself, getting again close to the cliff. However, looking at the nothingness below, as half of his body was just hanging, he seemed to regret his decision and pushed himself back. The duo sat down after that, thought Wave was a little inclined, supporting her body with her arms, while Tails entered in a fetal position, shaking violently every other second.

"Hey, everything will be alright." Wave reassured.

"IT HURTS." It sounded somewhat muffed, because of his position.

Wave, feeling a little bad for him, started to pet him softly on the head. "I can't just take the pain away. But I am here. I am here." She was surprised for the way her words came out so easily. Not only about how easily it felt to tell him this reassuring things, but also because there was little sarcasm or complains both on her mind and her tone. Before she knew it, Tails then sat back up more normally and hugged her, feeling his head on her shoulder. A needy hug. Wave couldn't help but comply. "There, there." She said, patting his back. They remained like that for about a minute, before Wave felt him move a bit, feeling the weight off her shoulder.

She just thought that he moved a bit to get more comfortable, but another thought came like lightning. A very strange one to be honest. (Move!) The part she found the most confusing was not the thought itself, but that she made a sudden movement, before even processing it. And, in a blink of an eye, she felt a horrible burning sensation on her shoulder, like several hot daggers piercing through her. She struggled, trying to get the fox off her, but he actually put more weight on her, pinning her to the floor. At some moment, she felt the sensation go, though the pain continued. At that moment, she used her knee to hit the fox in the wounded area, getting him out off her body, as she intended.

However, said action didn't generate a pained grunt or something similar. Instead, it generated a small laugh. "Heh, heh, heh." It was more of an awkward laugh than anything, but it did send a shiver down her spine. She stood up, taking a defensive stance, while the fox stood up too, without any apparent struggle. That sent a very clear alarm to the swallow.

The fox then introduced a hand on his mouth, only to shut it harshly on one of his thumps. Right after that, he looked at his finger more carefully. And it hit the swallow at that moment: He had bitten her. It seems however, that he didn't penetrate the jacket, something the swallow was very thankful. "Dammit, that bastard dulled his fangs. I can barely hurt me with them as they are right now." He thought out loud, thought Wave couldn't hear him clearly.

"Dammit Tails, what the fuck are you thinking?" Wave couldn't help but snap.

"I wanted to finish this quickly." Wave eyes only grew bigger at such statement. "The bite was directed to your neck, meant to kill you fast." He shrugged, nonchalant. Wave would have admitted that she was terrified of the fox at some moments. "Admittedly, I would have probably not gotten a clean cut. It seems my fangs have gotten dull." But now, all those times seemed so little so insignificant, because they were accompanied with some consciousness, regret, as if he could not fully enjoy it. Whatever she looked behind his eyes, was enjoying every second of the pain and fear he was causing. "Now, what do you say if we have more fun?" He smiled at her. And his eyes had mutated, having a beastly yellow color and pupils shaped as a vertical black line, like that of a snake.

* * *

 _Author note: Recently I can't help but feel this fanfic is getting a little too ridiculous for its own good. Past the point where you let disbelief go._


	21. Enter the Black Arms

"Let's help Tails. He must not to be alone in his difficulties. Help him get over his addiction. Get closer to him because he looks needy." Wave said to herself in a mocking tone. At that moment, she was running as fast as her legs let her, escaping from a certain crazy fox that had recently bit her. "What the hell was I thinking?!" She screamed, feeling like pulling her feather braids off.

She had a head start against the fox, already at the lower end of the stairs. Wave was well aware of the fact that she could not escape him, thanks to the bracelet still placed on her arm. She hated to think about it, but her only option was hiding. So, she came to the conclusion that hiding inside the wood remains of the now abandon train station, as the few people who had any reason to visit Mystic Ruins traveled by other means. Mainly extreme gears.

Meanwhile, the fox was walking slowly, apparently taking his time and enjoying the hunt. After a while, after Wave had already disappeared of his range of sight, he decided to give her chase, flying and getting to the bottom of the stair of his building in seconds.

So, she was moving around the remnants, hoping to escape the fox in the darkness of the night. So, she tip toe around the junk, knowing that the fox could not see her. At one point, she moved right at the side of a wood wall, to hide herself as she walked to a better position. This proved to be a mistake.

Suddenly, from the wood, came a pair of hands, wrapping harshly on the bird woman's neck. Wave squirmed in panic, feeling the fingers press hard against her throat, with intention to kill. "Here's Taaaillls" The fox said, imitating a horror movie character he knew about.

Wave put her hands on his, struggling against him and, to her surprise, she was winning, capable to remove the fingers off her neck and move them away. Right after that, she ran away. The fox, surprised, tried to run after her, but not only was she faster than him, he ran out of air very fast, feeling the side of his torso burn nastily. That's when he realized what was wrong with him. (That fox is a goddamn couch potato!) He thought, realizing how out of shape he was and imagining that the fox had done this intentionally, just like he did with his teeth.

This made him stop for a moment and test again the spinning tails. As he felt before, the strength of his most important appendage was the same as usual, if not stronger, so, he had a reliable method for hunting her. So, running a little for impulsion, he then used his tails to push himself forward, like a turbine. The swallow again had a head start, but he knew it was not going to be an issue. However, Wave had not ran away empty handed, as she now had a forearm long plank of wood, somewhat battered, but anything at the moment felt like a good weapon.

For her, it was not easy to see in the dark, although the moon light definitely helped. Suddenly, a darkness loomed over her, making it a little harder to see. She looked up, thinking that a cloud had moved over the moon and blocked its light. But, to her dismay, it was actually the crazy fox flying from above and ready to crash against her. She started running, managing to get away from what she supposed was his crashing site, but she didn't count on the fox flight control and his ability to change direction, just inches from crashing and propelling himself to her, managing to grab her and then, tried to gain altitude.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap." Wave said, panicking and squirming. However, the worst part was yet to come, as the fox introduced his teeth against the swallow again, this time, on her head. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" Somehow, things got even more out of hand for her. In her desperation, she managed to hit him in the wound he had, at the side of his stomach, making him let go of her because of the pain. "Yes!" She screamed, but then she remembered that she was now falling. Not only that, but she still had the syringes on her jacket, so she had to land on her back, to avoid any serious damage.

She was thankful that the fox could not get enough altitude fast enough to get terminal velocity, but it still stung nastily. "Shit." She said between her teeth, while forcing herself up. In a moment, she pressed her hurt area, which only it hurt much, much more quickly. (Shit, I think something broke.)

Meanwhile, the fox landed, only to impulse himself again to the swallow. This time however, the swallow got up and was somewhat ready for him. In his leap, the swallow managed to hit him mid air, in the head, getting him to the side. "Hehe." Wave thought she heard a laughter, but did not have time to confirm it, as the fox continued it assault against her.

He repeated his act and she hit him again, this time around the side of his torso. "Hehehehe." This time, the laughter came with a shiver going down the swallow's back, as she was forming an idea of who was the origin.

A third time the fox leaped and a third time the swallow hit him, this time, above his head, sending him to the floor. "Hehehehehehehe." She was sure, the origin was the fox. Surprisingly, the fox stopped himself by landing on his four limbs and jumped again. Instinctively, she put the wood plank horizontally, in defensive position. This would come to bite her, because the fox grabbed it and struggled against it. The swallow hold to the plank like her life depended on it, but there was another very distracting thing going on.

"Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The fox was laughing like a maniac and his face expressed it too, as his bright beastly yellow eyes shone brightly, with the pupils so small were pretty much non existent. His mouth, while wide open, still had the defining characteristic of a smile, a creepy, scaring-the-crap-out-of-someone type of smile. And he was getting closer to her, as the laughter, the smile, the noise kept getting closer. The icing of this creepy cake, was the fact that the last two attacks from the swallow landed on the fox, and now, a trail of blood covered his face.

Bam!* The laughter stopped, just as the face of the fox fell. Wave, mustering every bit of courage, managed to kick the fox right on his balls. Now, she got some distance again, while the fox fell on his face, with his butt high. "Biiiiiiitch." He said in a low shrill voice, barely audible. Wave now had some distance again, but turned around, hoping to be ready for whatever the fox threw at her. Meanwhile, the fox seemed to get over the pain, although his legs still looked wobbly after that hit. "I am not done with you."

"Stop that."

"Stop what?" He asked.

"Whatever you think this is!" She replied. "A game, an initiation, a joke, I don't know!"

"Just to leave this clear: I don't know who you are, I don't care who you are, I just want you dead." He admitted, with that devil-may-care attitude that Tails had before. But then, the sinister smile shined clearly in the middle of the darkness. "Although, the more violent, the better..."

(He doesn't know me?) A lump of saliva went down the bird woman throat, but then, a somewhat tranquilizing thought appeared on her mind. "You... You are the thing that made Tails a killer!"

However, at that answer, he started laughing loudly, with his head to the sky. "Adorable. Simply adorable." He continued, amusement not fully leaving his voice. "Have you considered that I am the 'real' Tails?"

"What shit are you spitting now!?" She screamed. She wanted to check her jacket, as she still had both syringes on herself at that moment. At the very least, the weird juice the fox had could stop him too, or slow him down. She remembered that she had the full one on her left side while the empty one was on the right.

She considered that her best option would be to introduce the thing, while she had the element of surprise. With a plan in mind, the girl started to run away again, hoping to lure him. The fox started running, ready to begin the hunt again. Suddenly, he stopped dead on his tracks. Wave had maintained her eye on the fox and thought that was very weird.

He was looking at the sky, at an empty spot. There should not be anything of interest for the fox. And yet, he grabbed a rock and threw it at the nothingness.

Claaaaannngggg* Wave's body froze. The rock had violently shifted its trajectory, apparently crashing against something made of metal. What the hell was going on?

Suddenly, the invisibility lead to a purplish, rock like giant object, floating in the sky. (You gotta be shitting me!) Wave really wished this was the last thing happening tonight.

And then, from the middle, a yellow light came, touching the ground near the fox and, from it, they emerged.

"Black... Creatures?" Wave could barely found her voice to muster those words. Of course she remembered those monster, numerous and vicious. With the help of Shadow, (For a while, at least) they did significant damage to several cities of the world. Even without the hedgehog, they were a serious threat.

But this presented an interesting situation... Could she use this opportunity, to inject the fox with whatever she had on her?

At that moment, a few of the soldiers came, holding guns and blades. The fox, without any hint of fear or doubt, ran forward. He delivered a knee to the head of one of the aliens and then, hit it with his tails on his hand. The alien dropped the laser gun, and the fox wasted no time to take it for himself and blasting the alien on its face, blowing it up. The rest of the soldiers kept blasting. The fox's flight let him avoid the energy shots, although the way his body hanged and moved each time he changed direction made it look sloppy and careless. Still, the anthro closed the distance between him and the aliens.

Soon, he reached the second soldier, dispatched him with the blaster and stole his purple saber. Then, with it and speeding off even more, he slashed the next four soldiers, cutting their heads. When these died, they burst into geysers, their blood bathing the fox. The later stood on that place, letting the disgusting liquid bath him. He just lifted both of his arms, looking at the sky. "OH, HOW MUCH I MISSED THIS!" He screamed, as if he was having the time of his life.

Wave really did not want to get there. She moved to the greens, slowly, as silently as possible and using any hiding spot. Right now, the swallow hid behind a rock, big enough for her to sit down and know the fox could not see her. She observed the situation one last time, as the fox slaughtered even more of the black arms.

She hid again, trying to think of an attack plan. *Phew* "GAAAAAAAAHHHH." She screamed, the pain coming from her leg, strong enough to make her cry. She didn't know how, but a shot pierced right through the rock and hit her. However, the fox came again, and grabbed her with a single arm, while carrying the bloody blade on the other. Unlike before, he did not flew up. He hovered lowly while moving fast, dragging the swallow. "Ahhhh. Ahhh. Ahhh. Gaaaah." The swallow expressed her pain.

"Woooohoohohohoohoo!" The fox laughed, enjoying it. The journey went on for a little while, at least until she threw the bird woman against a stone wall. She hit it with her back, the impact causing her to vomit blood.

Now, fighting to remain conscious, the swallow tried to look at his attacker, who was completely covered on the dark substance. "The... black... creatures..."

"I would worry about yourself."

"D-da-dangerous."

"See birdy, I don't give a crap about the black creatures. But you... I despise you with every fiber of my being. Honestly, killing you is mercy." He explained, the wicked smile across his face never disappeared.

Wave, clear about his intentions, decided to make a last ditch effort and threw herself at the fox, with a syringe in hand. The fox saw it coming and slapped the first syringe away. "Pointless." He said, smiling. Then, his smile faded, as he felt a pinch on his leg.

Without a second thought, the fox used the blade on his other arm and slashed the swallow, cutting her arm off. The other shot, the one that was actually full, was on that hand. The swallow let another scream of agony, but this only infuriated the fox even more.

*Boom!* Without missing a moment, he used the hilt of the blade and smacked the swallow right on her forehead. This silenced the bird, but the fox did not stop.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!* He continued to ram the hilt to her head, as he laughed, louder and louder, enjoying every second of it. Three, four, five hits one after the other. At that point, her head started to bleed violently. The only movement she could make anymore was a shake on her arms, but, eventually, that died down too. Now, the hand lied extended on the ground.

Now, while the fox was trying to enjoy his killing, he did not completely forget about the aliens. He stopped for a moment and looked up into the sky. Some of the Black Wings flew to his direction. They remained spread, likely trying to avoid getting killed in one movement by the fox. The latter wished he still had his firearm instead of the blade, to eliminate the threat immediately.

He knew the longer he waited, the harder it would get, so he flew directly to one of them and slashed one of them in half. That was when he knew he had fucked: All the other flying monster changed their flight patterns, head first to the half-dead, bird woman.

The fox trailed after them, as fast as he could. However, one of them opened it wings wide, using wind resistance to reach the fox and catch him by surprise. He was not able to react on time and crashed against it. It tried to bit the anthro, but the latter managed to grab him, putting it away. Then, he cut the alien in half. This, in his mind, was the tiniest of his concerns, as he gazed again at the other creatures. They were on top of the woman, not exactly sure what they were doing there.

Without loosing much time, he sped off again, ready to cut her. He swang the sword, spinning with his whole body for added strength, yet the slash met with something made of metal, strong enough to changed the orientation of the spin and force him to skid-land.

When he looked again, the two flying creatures had separated, as if giving space to a big thing, to something they respected or even bowed a bit. And, even after all the punishment, the swallow stood up again, a twisted, crystal, purple giant wrench (not that different from the blades that the black creatures use) emerged from her severed limb. However, the bird woman did not have any pupils and her purple feathers changed color into grey with large spots of red. He could also see that she was slightly bigger and buffer than before.

Without much warning, the swallow ran to the fox, swinging her weapon. The fox blocked the best he could, but the impact pushed him, making him leave a trail of dirt. That was not the worst part, as a black oak (the biggest type of Black Arms) delivered a back hand to the fox face.

The anthro needed a moment to grab his bearings. But when he got it, he realized that he was surrounded, by several of his enemies, none armed, for some reason. They were forming this circle around him, and the only other thing in the circle... was the swallow.

The swallow jumped again, with murderous intent. He jumped to the sidelines, but crashed against the wall. They punched him back to the confrontation. A bit confused by the last hit, the swallow then responded with a back hand and then with a punch, the latter sending him flying a bit again, crashing to the floor.

The yellow anthro felt the familiar taste of blood on his mouth. However, as he struggled back, he could not help but notice the syringe, getting pushed around by their feets. The fox then jumped to one of the black creatures, only for it to grab him, and smash him to the floor.

The fox puked blood, but then, proceeded to spin his tails, the appendage having enough strength to shake the nearby enemies and pushed himself to the injection, taking it. Just in time, because the bird woman then attack him again, speeding him off on the distance. The fox blocked the attack with his twin tails, yet the blow still made him dizzy.

Now, the fox was flying and falling beyond the cliffs of Mystic Ruins. It wasn't until he saw the sharp rocks coming closer and closer that he reacted. He was about to start flying, but something beat him to it. He suddenly felt as if his arm was being hold by something, stopping him in mid air, as a nasty *Crack!* sound came with extreme pain.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAA!" He screamed, in pain close to agony, knowing that his arm was pull out of its socket. "Fuuuuuuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He screamed. He started flying, trying to get away from the Black Creatures, but he couldn't. He checked that arm, trying to find what was wrong. And he observed the blue and white bracelet. "Of all the asinine stuff he could have done..." he complained, struggling against it.

Suddenly, the screen on the bracelet lit up. A chemical structure appeared, accompanied by the words below *Insufficient* on it. Those only lasted for as they were replaced by a countdown. From twenty and diminishing. At that moment his blood went cold. (...You hate me that much, huh?).

To continue with his torment, he was pulled again, harshly, crashing against the wall and making the pain of the arm even worse. And, he was being pulled back to the Black Creatures, while getting dragged against the rock formation.

He knew if the pain continued that he would loose consciousness any moment now, so, he pulled the only card he had: he injected himself. Soon, his body started shaking violently, as he gave up this consciousness for the other persona.

The swallow finished pulling the fox up, far away from the cliff since the limit of the electric handcuffs was quite far. Meanwhile, the rest of the army surrounded his limp body. The body of the fox was twisting and shaking in pain. Without wasting more time, the creature prepared to finish the fox, but he suddenly rolled away from immediate danger. He was up again in a blink of the eye, the baby blue color had returned on his eyes.

"Shit." Tails let go, starting to fly. He felt how his right arm was just hanging, with a constant pain, even if he had his senses messed up. His first decision after getting back his body was tinkering with the bracelet range and make it indefinite, so the swallow could not use it for her advantage. Unlike the beastly persona, Tails remembered everything the other did.

Just a second after he did that, the black hawks attack, slashing the fox mid air. It was not enough to make him fall yet. However, the black arms revealed their fire arms and blasted the fox. Unprepared for that, he lost his concentration and fell.

He could have stopped himself again, but instead, chose to slow his fall just enough, to ensure that the hit would not be deadly. He also positioned his body to deliver the hit on his dislocated shoulder, hoping to fix it.

His plan proved fruitful, as his shoulder was back on place and that pain ended. However, it also showed that his body was heavily damaged, as he puked blood again. With this, he knew what was the better course of action: get back home as soon as possible.

And, of course, the creatures, all throwing themselves at the frail fox, complicated things further.

The bigger enemies jumped and tried to crush him with their bodies. He rolled away, avoiding some of them, but another group managed to grab him by the neck, aiming to choke him.

He double kicked it, getting it to free the fox. He landed on its tails, and used them to walk in an awkward horizontal position. It was short lived, as the creatures hit him again, throwing him off balance. He bounced back on his feet and was able to take off again.

However, not even ten feet into the air, a flying black creature caught him and started biting him on the shoulder. The fox shook it off... and noticed that there were another 10 surrounding him.

Making a mad dash, he sped off, to the cottage, not caring that those things got stuck to him and were continued their assault.

He could not maintain flight, crashing soon to the land. The creatures flew off of him, even though he was sure that was not because of the crash. He felt his body ache slightly, specially one of his ears hurt the most. He put a hand on the ear in pain... and felt how a chunk of it was missing.

(Fuck.) He thought. Then, Wave crashed, in front of him. (Double Fuck.) The fox passed his hands on the lawn, thinking (Where is it?)

The swallow jumped again and tried to crash on him. Pushing himself from a laying on his front position, he flew a few feet away, dodging her. He continued his search while she ran to him, swinging the wrench. The fox repeated his move and avoided her. This progress repeated one last time.

Right after that, the swallow jumped again, looking like she was going to crash on him again. He dodged one more time but the swallow was ready for it. In the last second, she threw the wrench, predicting his moves. The fox was not able to change his direction at time, crashing against the wrench.

He was stunned for a second, a second too long. The swallow arrived and grabbed the wrench. The fox tried to escape again, but it was too late. *Thump!* He compared that sound as if a giant piece of metal crashed against another.

And the most horrendous pain came... near the area where his tails connect with his body. He tried to scream, but his voice was nowhere. He tried lift himself but he was not strong enough. His vision went from blurry to somewhat clear between seconds, but there was something he wished he had never seen... His two tails where in front of him, with blood still coming out from the ripped up part. (Triple... Fuck!)

He tried to move again, and... felt his hand press something made of metal. (Yes!) What he found, was a panel, a screen that could be used to open the hangar of the building from the outside.

He spun his hand, counter clock wise. Suddenly, the earth started moving. *Whirrrr* A line appeared in area, a straight line, and becoming larger. Because of the movement, everyone but the fox were surprised and shaken. When the line was wide enough, Tails spun his hand in the other direction and rolled into the hangar. The instant he did, the line started closing.

The fox was barely able to sneak in the hole, before it closed. A few of the monsters tried to catch him, but couldn't catch him. The fox crashed, but now he was inside his building. Specifically, he was at the hangar, where his different vehicles awaited him.

The fox tried to get up, only managing to sit down in his attempt. He hoped that this could buy him a well deserved break. He sighed. He looked at his back, even if he didn't want to.

As he expected, his tails were cut off, now barely reaching five centimeters long and bleeding violently. He had to do something about that soon.

Despite the pain, he soldiered on, aiming to find his weapons. Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the entire building and putting him down again. Followed after that, the lights flickered, before becoming red. (...No) Even his mental voice was low and weak.

Then, *Fuuuuussss* took over, with a stronger, orange lights suddenly filling the room. Tails rolled away, knowing that was coming from one of his burst wispon.

The fox managed to escape the attack, although he had to slap the fire on him away. A second later, he had to stop harshly, an electric whip barely touching him. But he was too distracted to react to the green air blast, sending him flying to one of his planes.

The fox used the plane to support himself, but his hand touched something weird, something squashy. The fox jumped away, knowing that was wrong. On his plane, was one of black creatures in its larvae form. In fact, several were moving around his ships.

He was so surprised by this, that he did not notice another black soldier, with a cube wispon, pointing at him. At that moment, a blue light filled the room. When it subsided, the black warrior was stuck in the blue cube. (He must have shot himself by accident.)

Knowing that he did not have much time, he ran as fast as he could, reaching to his closet of wispons. As he expected, they left it empty, taking anything resembling a weapon. *Boom* Another explosion shook the entire structure.

He fell yet again, but heard a clang like sound coming from the closet. He opened his eyes and was thankful to find a certain golden bracelet with inscriptions and a black gem on it. (Yes!) The fox screamed on his mind, taking it and wearing it.

Then he grabbed a part of the closet, before activating the bracelet. Right after that, a weightless feeling started to take over, not only on him, but on every single object minus the ones stuck to the walls.

He did not need to turn around to know that the black creatures were also under its effect and very close to him. Then, using the Ark of the Cosmos, he threw them, along with the planes and several others tools on the room. Tails was also floating, although he was not sent flying.

A second later, he slowly descended and landed on his feet. A look behind revealed that the Black Soldiers were knocked out under the planes and boats he stored there. From the bodies, the anthro took the wispons and, using the burst one, burned the pile of monsters and machinery. *Fuss*

The yellow anthro hesitated a bit. After all, he built these out of his worst stage, not to mention the naval vehicles were built out of materials from the sol dimension: It might take a while for him to replace them, if at all. But, right now, his priority should be getting rid of the plague that ran on his house.

Now, armed and better prepared, the fox knew he had only thing to deal with: the bleeding from what was left of his tails. So, against common sense, tuned the burst power to its lowest and made his best to cauterize his wounds. It went as expected.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

* * *

Author note: So... I am going to put here the titles and small descriptions of each types of Black Creatures because it is kinda tedious to write "the black creatures that fly" or stuff like that in the fanfic and, because I imagine most reader don't remember their types or knew their names in the first place (I never knew their names before reading them for this fanfic, even if Shadow the hedgehog is probably the STH game that I spent most time with.)

B. Soldier: Standard, human sized black creature.

B. Leeches: The weird larvae creatures with the shape of tiny volcanoes

B. Oak: The humanoid black creatures that are at least twice as big as the Soldier type.

B. Wing: Not to be confused with the Yu-gi-oh archetype, their are the bird like enemies. There are also the Black Hawks, which are more or less the same, just bigger and more resilient.

B. Assassin: Their body type is the same as the Soldier, but they have stronger armor and better weapons, making them the strongest type of soldier on the Black Arms. Usually only found in their spaceships or fortresses.


	22. Too close

Author note: Soooo, a few chapters back, I wrote that they shot from the blue wispon, when it reality, it is used as a hammer, capturing anything around the user. I apologize for that. Also, while I don't know if there is a time limit for the cube thing to dissolve, but I think it is reasonable to think that Tails found a way to make it indefinite.

* * *

The fox just finished killing the last remaining Black Creature in the last room, the computer room. That did not matter as much as the fact that his computers were dead.

He wanted to figure out how much area was taken by the invaders, how many there were, how they managed to enter, why his defenses didn't repel them. Anything that could help him get a better grasp of the situation.

Suddenly, the fox heard something. Alerted, he prepared himself for anything. Moving slowly to the origin of the sound, he then made a sudden move, pointing the burst wispon at the space. The object in front of him gave a half jump, just as him, but, when both of them noticed the other, they could not hide their happiness and relief.

"T-pup!" Tails said. The mechanical robot dog´s dog joints creaked with every move it did, but he got close to his creator. He had to admit that, when he was still recovering from his madness, the first advance machinery he rebuilt was his dog, to keep him company. However, because of Tails personal issues, he found himself not able to take care of the dog properly, not as he used to and even damaging it for no reason on the worst days. He hated himself for doing it, but he kept the dog in a hibernating state, leaving it as he first built it without updating him, reason why the robot dog was rusty and somewhat damaged. He couldn't bring himself to build another one, or turn him on after the poor way he treated him, but he could't get rid of it either. From what he deduced, the robot dog broke from his hibernation state, because of all the havoc going on. "Just in time too." The fox added.

Without wasting any more time, the fox used the robot pet as a terminal and connect to the structure's systems and cameras. "Let's see what I can get." The fox said. At that exact moment the black creatures were destroying the fox's everything. Particularly, a large group attacked a bunch of inactive Shabots. When he checked other panels, he found that other squadrons of robots were already obliterated, though only one or two.

However, the mice's vaults were completely destroyed, as well of several of his automated defenses. He had them stacked up in large vaults, specially designed to hold the dangerous mice. But, from what he could see, all of them were already destroyed.

"Ok... What about the databases?" He thought out loud. For the most part, this was a dead end, except with the ones of today.

Any footage from before was gone, erased. Still, he found something very alarming: The footage from today, as early as 3 AM, showed Black Leeches already inside the vaults, sleeping or in some kinds of sleeping state.

He fast forward the recording, until around the time he woke up violently and chased down the bird woman. The moment they left the building, the leeches made their move and made a chain reaction in which made the entire vault blow up. The same happened with each vault.

Tails hated this: All things considered, he should have been more prepared for this. He also knew that all of this, was caused by Wave. An unaware Wave, but still.

There was no way for the Black Arms to an infiltration like this, without her technological intervention. His best guess was that the swallow lowered his systems just enough to sneak the leeches. She also erased any video from before. But all of this, was his fault.

He knew Wave was likely altered and controlled by the Black Creatures, so she was not only a spy, but also a serious threat to his safety. He knew it was likely that he would be a target sooner or later, but he didn't check his systems for possible alterations, he didn't check his recordings to try and detect something wrong. Honestly, he wanted to kick himself for not being more careful.

Of course, when he thought about a reason, it was a rather simple one... His machines should have warned him.

Out of nowhere, the robot dog threw himself at the fox, hitting him and pushing him to the floor. Timely, a green blast came, hitting the dog and making it crash to the wall. "Dammit!" Tails let go, watching the dog twitch after the hit. From the pathway that the shot came, more Black Creatures stood there.

"Boy, Sick them!" He ordered. Immediately, the machine put itself together, and suddenly grew four times it size, before roaring loudly and running to the aliens. The black creatures shot at it, but the wispons and their weaponry were nothing to him. A good part of his machinery was specifically made to resist the wispons.

The dog crushed and bit its enemies, incapacitating them, before returning for the fox. "Good...boy." He said, straining to get on the back of the machine. "Now let's go up." The fox said and the robot dog complied.

The plan was simple: go to the top of the structure, above the extreme gear shop. There was not much there beyond a few telescopes and some junk. There was something, however, that might give him the thing that he needs. He also knew that the elevator was probably down, so the stair was the only way.

Without much time lost, he was back again at the extreme gear shop. It was overrun with invaders, but T-pup entered as a small puppy and, when he was surrounded by the aliens, he turned big again and wrecked them. More of the soldier types entered, which made the dog escape through the front door. The aliens followed him. A moment later, Tails poked his head, to make sure that the coast was clear.

He dashed to the superior floor, where a smaller number of enemies that he easily dispatched with the electric wispon. Now, he took a quick look through the bags of junk. They were mostly stuff from past adventures that were, mostly junk at this point. But then, he found what he was looking for.

It was a yellow plastic object with a screen on the middle, two antennas on the upper part of it, a black handle on the right side and some buttons, directional arrows to be specific, on the left from side. Honestly, it looked like a toy and was dusty as heck, indicating that he had not used it in a while. It was something he dumbly named as Miles Electric. (Of all the things I thought I would never use again.) He thought.

The fox blew the object, making some of the dust leave the object. Then, he turned it on. The screen flickered, before going on. "Better." He said. Quickly, the fox made a specific call.

"This is GUN, what is your emergency?" A man at the other end of the call asked, appearing on screen.

"Yes!" Tails balled his fist and lowered his arm, in signal of victory.

"Tails the fox?!" The agent asked on disbelief.

"Yes. Don't hang on me." He said. "Listen, I need a group of soldiers to evacuate Station Square. There are Black Creatures attacking my house."

"What?!" He asked. "Do you have any proof?"

"Give me a minute." Tails said. Even if the bodies where battered, they were recognizable enough for the soldier.

"Shit. Survive a minute, we will send a squad to Mystic ruins."

"Don't be an idiot. I can take care of myself. Go to Station Square, try to find any indication of Black Creatures and get the people out of there." Tails explained, before whistling. Around a second later, the bigger robot dog appeared, chewing and spitting the remaining of some black creature.

"...How many have you seen?" The soldier asked.

"How am I supposed to answer that?!" Tails snapped, going down the stairs, back to the computer room. "They are countless."

"Then that means it is an all out attack, with the last remaining of their species. They were supposed to be near extinct when they attacked Earth. And the gap of 13 years should not be close to enough for them to reproduce a new armada in such a short time."

"Like we really know anything about an alien species like that." Tails muttered, letting T-pup take him to the engine room. "Look, from what I can find, these infiltrated my house right under my nose. I don't see any reason why they could not do that again."

"That doesn't sound like their modus operandi."

Tails was getting tired of this conversation. "You have around five minutes to get a squad and evacuate. There is going to a blackout." Tails said.

"What?! Whatever you have in mind..."

"You know what to..." Tails interrupted, but he stopped, as the robot dog crashed against something made out of metal, tumbling down by the side and throwing him off. The fox wasted no time in getting up and noticing that one of the legs of the robot was violently broken. And a little further down the path, Wave stood, still with the purple wrench in hand. "You have a little more time than I foresaw. I need to make another call." Tails said, scared for his life.

Without much thought, the fox ran as fast as he could. Of course, the swallow stopped him by throwing the wrench right to him. The yellow anthro guessed something like this would happen, but even then he barely had time to stop himself, the wrench missing just for a few inches. He turned around, watching the swallow jump over the robot, only for it to suddenly move its head and bite the swallow, only her head and arms remained outside of the dog's mouth. The robot then started moving his head, smacking the swallow against the floor. "Thanks T-pup!" Tails said, returning to his escape.

With the yellow pad on his hands, he made contact with Angel Island. "This is..." The soldier started, doing his job, but Tails didn't have time for that.

"4521 code fluffiness 9893!" Tails said, the desperation on his voice was evident.

"You again?! Wait a second." The soldier said, but Tails did not have a second, as a Black Oak grabbed the fox by the head, accompanied by *crack!* sound.

He was really thankful for his numbness, or who knows how much that would hurt. Quickly, he grabbed the electric whip wispon and hit the Black Creature with it, the pain forced him to let go of the fox. Tails then waved the electric whip wildly, hitting and defeating that Black Oak, as well of the other black Creatures around. After a good moment, he needed to stop to find his breath.

"Miles? Is this some kind of joke?! I told you before..." The fox heard, coming from the tablet, but his priority was on using the electric whip to repeated hit the black Oak, takinh it down and a few other smaller black creatures around.

"I am here. And this is not a joke." Tails answered.

"What the... Tails, what kind of crazy experiment are you doing?" Shade asked, observing at the black substance that mostly covered the fox.

"Look, I don't have much time to explain. I am under attack and I hope to crash land on Angel Island. Although, I will be honest: I am pretty sure that I need someone to come and pick me up." Tails explained.

"Miles, that is not enough and you know doing something like that is..." Shade started on her end, but suddenly, the sound of a vacuum started, taking the Electric Miles from his hand.

(Shit!) He cursed inwardly for not being able to hold the yellow tablet, but he could not cry for the spill milk, size the vacuum was so strong that it was also dragging him. The vacuum sound came from an alien gun.

The electric whip on Tails hand permit him to latch into a random object across the room, resisting the gun. However, other Black Creatures came, using their fire arms to try and harm the fox. The tailless anthro moved as much as he could in the difficult position.

He looked to the area where the whip got attached to, before returning his eyes to the group of black creatures. At that moment, his eyes caught glimpse of Wave, making him turn his head to her. He was thankful to be aware of her presence, but right now, he was squirming in every possible way, trying to avoid the shots. And, if that wasn't enough, the swallow threw T-pup's severed head at him, though he dodge it too.

But he could only keep that up for so long, before a random shot hit him on the leg. "Gah." He let go a deaf scream. Right after that, he activated the ark of the cosmos, changing the direction of the gravity, toward the soldiers.

The gun did not stop. Instead, it affected the possessed swallow, who was sent flying by the change of gravity, got into the reach and effect of the vacuum and was getting dragged by it. Tails also felt its effects, as his arm was put into so much pressure that he was sure it had came out of its socket. (Dammit all!)

But it worked, as it made the black creature turn off the vacuum weapon, to avoid absorbing the swallow. Now, with his free hand, he grabbed the blue wispon and threw it, around the area they were. Wave was already up and getting closer to the fox, but it was too late, as the cube wispon activated.

Soon, all of his opponents were captured inside blue cubes, specially the swallow, whose weapon was inches away from hitting him. The fox let go a held air, before awkwardly tumbling to the floor. He tried to get up, but find it extremely hard to move his left leg. A quick look at himself showed that a shot had passed right through his leg.

Tails rolled his eyes, thinking that his kept pilling up. Still, he managed to get up. Then he observed at the swallow and could not help but touch the cube she was inside. "I will get you back." Tails said, decisively.

However, his eyes widened, feeling the cube vibrate just a little. That only happened if the thing inside was still conscious, a rare occurrence, but not unheard of. It meant that she would, eventually break free.

Not knowing how much time he could have, he retrieved the cube wispon, stole the vacuum weapon from the Black Soldier and, thanks to his busted leg, used the power of the ark of the cosmos to move. However, before anything else, he had to accommodate his arm again. He used the gravity powers to hit a wall... which only made the pain much worse. "Gag!" The fox let go another deaf scream of pain, thinking that it was obvious that this was more than a simple dislocation. Now, he could only soldier on.

Without losing much time, the fox made it to the engine room. In the middle of said room, there was a giant metal cylinder shaped structure with several orbs of light on it. He opened it: It was filled to the brim with cables and other machinery that sent energy to the whole facility; If he lifted his head slightly, he could see an energy bubble containing several cylinders of rings that powered the entire place; finally, the Black Leeches were stuck everywhere in the place, damaging the place in whatever way they could. He knew the vacuum gun would have being very useful, absorbing the leeches and then shooting them away when the gun was full. In little time, the machine was free from alien activity. From what he could see, most of the systems were down. He wished he had his tools, or duct tape, or two healthy arms.

And specially his tails. He looked at the severed limb. It felt like there was a pang of pain coming from the now burnt, red area. He could not help but think his mind was playing him for tricks. Still, the fox knew he could not waste anymore time, so he entered the machine. This would prove to be somewhat challenging, as Tails could have fixed his machine in just seconds with the right tools. Still, he was a prideful genius and managed to fix the machine, just enough for his needs, but he needed to speed things up, before something else happen.

*Boom* Yet another shake as the monsters kept wrecking the structure. But before he could leave, he redirected several of the wires, sending energy to a nearby terminal. Once outside, the fox got to that terminal.

"Activating 'emergency recharge' routine." The fox said out loud. It was just a fancy name for him to drain the nearby Station Square many energy generators to jump start his structure, which would leave them without any power for a good while, but he hoped that GUN did their job. And his plan worked, as the red lights that filled the place were replaced by the normal lights. "Yes." He said, with victory. Right after that, the fox worked on his machine, searching and latching to Angel Island location. "Preparing for Take Off in three, two, one!" He said, pressing enter. Suddenly, the whole place started shaking violently, as the sound of engines started.

From the outside, the cliff where the house was built started shaking, hard enough that the land started to crumble, falling to the see. As more and more pieces fell, a large yellow metal spike emerged, connected to a large while metal structure. The cottage inside of it moved along, and, as more dirt was removed, it was clear that it was part of a much larger, space ship. Before long, the white, yellow and blue gigantic ship was revealed. "Final Storm, Full speed ahead!" The fox screamed, as the engine at the end of the spaceship lit more intensively... only to suddenly, turn off entirely. Suddenly, the steady space ship fell under the effects of gravity. "Craaaap!" The fox screamed, barely holding to the terminal with one hand. Soon, the ship reached the see, barely staying afloat.

The fox wished he had the reflexes to have used the ark of the cosmos to slow his hit, but he didn't, hitting the floor hard. "Fuck!" Somehow, everything was going wrong for the fox. He stood up, using the terminal for further support. "Change to sea mode." He said, and shifting from the outside, the blades shifting shape, becoming a water rotor, pushing the ship forward. "OK, that is done."

*Boom, Boom, Boom* The fox heard again and his terminal sent the damage report: The rock spaceship from where the black creatures came was blasting the Final Storm, as well as sending even more black creatures. To make things even worse, two more space ships revealed themselves, joining into the assault. The anthro searched for his potential options, but there wasn't any, as even the last of his shadow bots was gone, none of the weapons of the ship would work, without compromising the energy source and leaving him as a sitting duck. From what he could see, he had only one option. He quickly inserted more orders in the machinery, making sure that it remained in lockdown so not even Wave or any genius could change its trajectory.

(Now... I can only wait.) The fox hated to think that, but it was reality. There was not much he could do, but hope that Shade sent troops to help him. Suddenly, the realization hit him, like a train: His hands started shaking, his vision started to shake, suddenly feeling sick, suddenly feeling so helpless. He arched over the computer, barely holding himself from falling. (Don't loose consciousness. Not now. Just one more thing to do.) He pulled out the cube wispon, and then, he looked at the screen of the machine, at his reflection, to be specific. Suddenly, there was something else moving on the reflection.

He barely managed to push himself out of the way of the blade, falling to the floor. Behind him, the missed swipe from the swallow had cleanly cut the terminal with a horizontal swipe of a Black arm's blade before looking and charging at him again. He readied the cube wispon... when suddenly, he found himself completely out of strength, letting the weapon fall from his hands. The blade the swallow's carried had cut right in the middle of his torso, through him. Finally, the wispon hit the floor, encapsulating both of them in a blue cube.


	23. Getting confusing

Purple lasers came from the sky as rain, continuously pouring on a focused place. The Final Storm was not going to last much longer, as the white ship was producing more and more smoke, barely managing to remain afloat, still advancing. But without any method of repelling both the internal and external threat, it was only a matter of time.

A part of the army of the Black Arms moved to where both anthros. Just as before, the blue cube where both stood frozen shook from time to time. The soldiers limited to just surround the cube, not knowing how to break her free without harming her.

What they did not know, was that reinforcements were on its way. Quite a few miles away, Angel Island moved, barely noticeable, trying to remain hidden, while an echidna jet did the same, just significantly faster.

"Does everyone know the plan?" Knuckles asked.

"Helping a mass murderer." The voice was not meant to be heard, but someone heard it anyway.

"Would you mind to share your opinions with everyone?" Shadow said, without even opening his eyes. Knuckles could not confirm who he was talking about.

"Soldiers?" Knuckles asked. None of the soldiers voiced their opinions. Knuckles knew why. *Shade is a little too strict with her people.* "Soldiers, I understand. You have no reason to trust Tails, nor want to help him, and, worse of all, take him to our island. But Tails is under attack by a threat that menaces everyone. Better to confront it before it is too late."

"With all due respect, sir, it is echidna blood that get spilled first with these massive threats." The same soldier commented.

"... For now, have the Decurions and Equites circle around the alien ships to stall them and attack them. Shadow, the Scouts and I will enter Tails' ship. Understood." Everyone noticed the hesitance at the beginning. He couldn't give a good answer for that last comment.

Without much else, the soldiers prepared for the assault, everyone but Shadow putting their armors on. It was easy to notice that the Scouts had wrists cannons, with a thick tube connecting it with a cylinder filled to the brim with a sky blue liquid, very similar to Chaos color.

"Shad." Knuckles called the ebony hedgehog. "Catch." He said, throwing a small orb with green sparkles in it. Shadow recognized what it was.

Before long, the flying soldiers did as they were told, their small size and speed let them get close to the rock ships. The Decurions used their scythe hands and slashed the surface, leaving cuts of three meters long.

The Black Creatures released Black Wings and Hawks, shooting and tailing the Decurions. But the Equites had their backs, charging their scythes and shooting energy waves, covering their comrades.

Soon, the skies became a war zone. That was the perfect opportunity for Knuckles' squad to jump out of their main ship, free falling to the Final Storm.

With the echidna with the metal eye at the lead, he started to spin, forming something like a drill, piercing through inches of steel like it was nothing. The following anthros formed a straight line, and entered the hole that the leader made.

Before long, the squad had entered. The Black Creatures couldn't react in time, getting overwhelmed by the echidnas. Before long, that floor's opposition was down.

Knuckles then lifted a single hand, signalling everyone to remain still for a minute. A second later, he punched the floor, opening another hole on the ship. He went down again, but alone. About a minute later and after numerous explosions and blast shots, he pooped his head again. "Get in." He said, remaining unharmed.

What they met was rather gruesome: The mutated Wave, with the purple blade on her only arm, penetrating the fox torso, both trapped inside the blue cube.

"C-can you guys do something with that?" Knuckles tried to remain professional, for the sake of the soldiers, but the shake on his voice and hands was evident.

He wasn't as attached to the fox as Sonic was, but watching him without his tails, missing pieces of his ears, covered both by Black Arm and, probably, his own blood... It had a bigger effect on him than he wanted to admit.

"As long as we find the Cube Wispon that generated that trap, we can do something about it. But it is a necessity to take away her blade or we are getting nowhere."

"Got it." He said, before looking at the cube again. [Swish] The blue cube shook a bit, some cracks appearing around it. "She is breaking free." Knuckles said, with a whisper.

At this moment, a black and red streak searched every inch of the floor, stopping with a cube wispon at hand. "Then let's not waste any more time." Shadow said, handing gun to a scout.

"On three." Knuckles said. "One, two..." The red echidna never got to say three, as a random shot came, hitting one of the soldiers and throwing him to the floor. But the process continued, as the soldier in charge of turning the cube off did it anyway.

[Phew] The cube dissappeared, and Wave roared. Shadow acted, and threw an upward, moon kick, breaking the edge of the blade. However, even with only half of her blade, she aimed to continue her assault.

Shadow put himself between the fox and the swallow, stopping the blade with his hands. Doing that felt like getting hit by a sledgehammer, but the hedgehog could take it... Under normal circumstances. He was not sure how he knew it, but the effects the birdwoman had on him were worse now than in her normal shape. It was only a matter of time before she overpowered him.

Knuckles, instead, focused on punching the guts out of Black Arms that were on the room, with the soldiers giving him covering fire. However, the red anthro soon realized this. "Shoot up! Make it crumble. Then help the fox" He said, turning his head. The soldiers did as he said.

At that moment, he also noticed Shadow on his knees, struggling as the blade started to sink into his shoulder. "Tag!" Knuckles said.

Shadow got it, trying to do a leg swipe and make the girl lose her balance. While it worked, Shadow could swear her leg felt like steel. Even more surprising was the fact that she was back and ready for another battle.

Shadow dodged another slash, barely and he needed to stop for a moment, feeling dizzy, but Wave did not give a damn. It would have turned ugly for the ebony anthro, had Knuckles not grabbed her only arm and twisted it to her back.

Meanwhile, the Scouts released the blue substance on the fox, forming this blue bubble around the wounds of the fox. His wounds healed quickly, even his inner organs were saved by this action. Soon, only the mark of the new, hairless skin was left as evidence of that last attack, yet the fox was not moving. The scouts checked their eyes and his pulse, but nothing indicated life anymore.

"He is not going to make it!" One of them shouted. Those words made Knuckles freeze for a moment, his mind not believing it. And, as expected, the swallow capitalized of that, impulsing herself and letting her weight damaged the echidna.

He let her go, and she was ready to assault, but the scouts shot her, making her take some steps back. Now, the echidna got his bearings again. "Get Tails and the scouts out of here!" He screamed and then, threw his full body at her, pushing her away.

Shadow nodded, taking the orb with the green substance and broke it. Now, he was charged with Chaos energy. He made a mad dash to the group of Scouts. "Chaos control!" He exclaimed, and soon, they disappeared. Now that the swallow only had one target to direct her anger.

She tried a direct attack, but the echidna easily countered it, threw her off balance and stole the blade. By the time the swallow had stood up again, he broke the blade into even more pieces, enough to render it useless.

The swallow made another dash, taking impulse for the swing of her arm. Knuckles thought he could prevent the attack easily, but he was not ready for the sudden apparition of a purple wrench with spikes alongside it. He could easily take the blunt force of the hit, but the spikes and it's piercing damage made him loose his fortitude, the blow sending him flying.

The swallow was not going to allow him any breathing room, but Knuckles didn't need it. He ducked and then side stepped her two next attacks and then punched her in the gut, apparently not hard enough, because she took it pretty well, as her assault continues.

Knuckles jumped away to get some distance and then took a defensive stance. It was here that the swallow changed her strategy, grabbing the wrench from its furthest point and jabbed as if it was a rapier, keeping her distance from the echidna. It was clear that last attack did damage.

Knuckles jump/dodged the hits, with some strain, but at control. Suddenly, Knuckles found himself with his back against the wall. The swallow took this opportunity and was ready to deliver the deadly blow.

But this was part of Knuckles' plan: He stopped the wrench with the spikes at the back of his hands, thought it took him quite a bit of strength to stop it. Then, with a kick, he managed to push the wrench up, out of his way. Finally, he cut the distance between each other in the blink of the eye and punched her in the gut again.

But then, using the spikes on his arms and slashed the swallow on the stomach. She, finally, back stepped out of pain, but Knuckles continued, slashing her leg next. The swallow tried one desperate final attack, but Knuckles easily dodged it and slashed her single arm. Soon, the swallow was clearly outmatched.

"You know, feels good to clobber a rogue after all these years." Knuckles admitted, bumping both his fist against one another.

"Hehehe." Knuckles had turned from the swallow, but that manly, deep laughter took him by surprise. And the origin was none other than the swallow. "Not bad either: the slashes are superficial, but precise; she is not bleeding to death." By this point, she had already stood up, though she looked tired. "I was surprised to see Shadow taking an order from you, but it seems you are more than flailing your arms and hope for the best."

"What?" Knuckles asked. He was getting a very bad sensation, his arms getting goosebumps. Suddenly, the swallow put the wrench around her neck and started closing the gap between the blades, slowly, just enough to make her bleed. "S-stop!" Knuckles ordered, but felt like he was no longer in control of the situation. She continued to press her own neck even harder.

Knuckles jumped without thinking, falling to her trap: in the blink of an eye, she slammed him with the same wrench she was trying to suicide. Knuckles' head felt like it was going to explode, but got back up fast.

But not fast enough, as Wave tried to crush his head the same way she tries to crush her neck. The echidna managed to put his head away, but she still caught his arm and started.

"Gaaaaah!" Knuckles shouted in pain, as she pressed harder and harder. Using the rest of his body for impulse, he managed to lift the swallow and smash her against the floor. Then, using his healthy arm, he managed to break the wrench.

Knuckles stepped away, while putting his healthy arm over his wounded one, trying to minimize the pain. *Definitely broken.* He thought. The swallow got back on her feet and then, snapped her fingers. From out of nowhere, another identical wrench materialized. "...Of course you can do that." He forced out, with half closed eyes.

"It is over, echidna." She said, ready to continue her attacks. Out of the blue, she felt several things pierce through her back. Now, she felt completely drained of energy, falling directly to the floor.

"She did a number on you." Shade said. She had thrown her energy draining daggers at the swallow, weakening fast enough to neutralize the threat. Shadow was at her side, as a clear indicator of how she managed to get in.

"This? This is nothing." Knuckles joked, pointing the red area. Shade, with her tactless manner, grabbed the arm, which made Knuckles squeal in pain, while opening his eyes a lot.

"Yep, definitely broken." Shade said. The ex-nocturne looked at Shadow with the side of her eye, noticing that he was handcuffing the swallow. "Give me a moment." She said, pressing with her fingers certain points of his shoulder. Right after that, his arm went numb, just hanging from his shoulder, but without any pain to speak of.

"Thanks Shade." Knuckles said.

"Let's get ready." Shadow said, with the green cylinder on his arm. Suddenly, the entire structure inclined itself, water starting to enter into the ship.

The three anthros resisted the inclination (though Knuckles needed a little help from Shade), and realized that it would be a matter of minutes before this floor was underwater.

The echidnas tried to get closer to the hedgehog, but it was too late, as a huge mass of purple, red and blue emerged from the water and took Shadow with it, breaking through more parts of the ship. The creature screamed in pain, indicating that the Black hedgehog was not letting itself be an easy target.

"Dammit." Shade let go. "Knuckles, come here." The latter obeyed, both surrounding the knocked down swallow. Shade touched her and Knuckles put a hand on Shade's shoulder, so that, when she teleported, everyone would go with her. A few teleports away and they managed to get at the ships exterior.

But, at this point, the ship was even more inclined, over 45 degrees and increasing. Shade pulled out more of her energy daggers, this time connected by thin wires and threw them. Essentially, the echidna woman formed a spider web, to hold the swallow and Knuckles in place, even if the ship reached the 90 degrees of inclination. She also placed more around, without any wires.

"Knuckles." She called her partner. Then, she threw him one of her nocturne blasters. "Cover me."

As if on cue, several of the black hawks came, ready for more. Knuckles gulped, having little to not experience using weapons, but, pointed and shot as much as he could. The rest of the soldiers and the jets were too distracted with the other ships to help them.

The flying creatures blasted away, taking control of the sky, but their targets were firing not at the anthros, but at the daggers that hold them on place. Shade, to answer that, threw explosives at the opposition, to confuse or eliminate them.

As they separated, Shade used the free daggers she set before, to impulse herself to one another and get to the creatures, slashing them. Then, when she was in mid air, she used her teleporter to get closer to the blades and repeated the process.

They managed to resist for a good moment, but, suddenly, another huge monster came. This time, they could see it more clearly, with its tiny wings and a single green eye. "Shit, a bull." Knuckles said.

The Black Bull had one simple intention: crash against the ship and take them out. Soon, it flew as fast as it could. Shade and Knuckles hit it with everything they had, from explosives to blaster, but it refused to even slow down.

Suddenly, a yellow laser came and pierced right through the monster, leaving a hole that permitted to see its out worldly guts. A second later, an energy sphere started to crash against the Black Hawks, disappearing for a moment after killing one, before going to the next one.

Soon, the air opposition was down and, a little later, the jet in which they came in appeared, ready to take them. The echidnas and the swallow landed on the back of the ship, before entering to it. And, about a second later, Shadow joined them, although he looked rather dizzy and clumsy when he did.

"You ok?" Knuckles asked, but the hedgehog only looked at the swallow.

"Soon." He replied, holding his head. While there blast and explosions all around them, they were not strong enough to blast them. Their ships were not fast enough to catch them and the Black Creatures couldn't quite dent it.

"Could you teleport us back to the island?"

"Do you have any more of those cylinders? I used the last one to blast the Black Bull." Shadow explained.

"We don't, but we are not far away."

Soon, they were at the flying island again. And Shadow wasted no time getting away from the swallow, jumping from the ship, not even bothering to wait for the ship to land.

Shade and Knuckles did things more normally, as a group of echidna met them on their landing. The Scouts of the ship took the swallow in wheel bed, and Knuckles followed them. They wanted to carry him just like the swallow, but Knuckles was too stubborn to accept the help.

Accompanied by some soldiers, Shade got back to her command center, trying to coordinate their next move."Prepare the ship for travelling at full speed. We need to put distance between our foes as fast as possible." Shade commanded. Suddenly, a red light took over the room. The screens of the room showed the outside of the Island, without any single blind spot. But at that moment, everyone wished it was not that precise. "A quarter power to the engines and the rest to the force field, NOW!" It was an extremely rare occurrence to hear the panic in Shade's tone.

But everyone would be panicked at the sudden materialization of hundreds of Black Arms ships, forming a perfect sphere around two miles away from the islands borders, not leaving a single hair of space between each other.

And, a second after the shield was up and reinforced, the blast started, each explosion shook Angel Island violently. "Use the quarter of the energy to push the ship. Make sure it is the side where the hangar is out. The minute they are able, release several ships. We are not going down without a fight." Shade said.

Soon, the island traveled ahead and, in a few seconds, ram against then wall of ships, breaking the formation and managing to break free. While a good amount of ships were wrecked in the crash, the rest regrouped, ready to continue blasting away, without damaging each other. But the echidnas were ready for a fight, an army of jets ready to give them hell.

"Air force 4 here."

"Air force 7 here."

"Air force 14 here."

"We await orders." The three squadrons said.

"Air forces, deploy!" Shade said and her forces left the Island.

The three squadrons of jets prepared for the fight. "Prepare the next squads." Shade gave the order.

"Master!" Someone in the room, shouted. On the screens that lead outside, something strange happened, as the rock like ships of the Black Arms started to become more and more transparent, before suddenly disappearing out of thin air.

Shade couldn't believe her eyes. "Shoot them! Don't let them separate and overwhelm us later. Use the radars to find them!" Shade ordered.

"Master, the radar shows nothing." A soldier said.

Shade looked at him in disbelief. Next, the ships used their machine guns to shoot at the air, but the bullets found nothing. "Nothing appears to be in the air."

"Use sonar. Also, order Knuckles' students to use the Master Emerald to detect anything out there." Shade ordered. About a minute later, both scans turned blank. "...Keep the ship at steady pace and keep the shields up. Keep us hidden too. At least, until we are sure we are safe." Shade ordered, making the entire island turn invisible. But even then, the echidna leader was restless. *What kind of monsters are we up against? How did they just...disappear like that?*

 _Meanwhile in another dimension_

The room lit by a yellow giant sphere in the middle, with some kind of grey roots both above and below it for support. Inside of it, there was a shadow, indicating that some creature was inside of it. But, after a while, the body stopped moving, its arms, legs and head only hanging, floating inside the liquid of the weird thing. As if it was dead.

Outside, a grey creature with three and wearing a red garment, with something like a son on his chest, with a blue V going below the chest area and going to the shoulders, and a blue hood. The interesting part about the creature was that it had no legs, floating on the air, the creature apparently ending right where the shirt ended too.

It extended his arm, trying to reach the creature in the yellow bubble. "You could leave it there if you wanted." A voice said, behind him.

Behind him, was this other being, with only three fingers and two toes, the irises were a bright, beastly yellow and the sclera was a pitch black. His skin was mostly grey and scaly, with touches of red on his wrists and ankles, like sweatbands, on his shoulders, some surrounding his eyes sockets and, finally, at the tip of his three fins, two down at the sides of his head and one up right on the middle of the back of his head.

"You are an idiot if you can't still understand why we need him. For the greatness of our species." The floating monster said.

"Our species at the edge of extinction. This idiot comes with a plan and you trust him blindly and put our species in danger on the first place." The grey and red replied.

"We have an opportunity to get revenge on that world that almost destroy us, that black hedgehog that almost decimated us! Don't your blood boil at the idea of these monsters living their lives, while us, suffer, forgotten to times?" The hooded creature said.

"But you are bringing an outsider, one with incredible powers. Don't you see that he is a threat to us? Don't you realize you lost your authority here?"

"Is that a threat, Eclipse?!" The three eyed creature menaced, looking directly at Eclipse's eyes as penetrating as possible. "Remember this: I am Black Death, the highest in command of the entire Black Arm species! I rule over you and everything here. Remember that!" He spat.

"...I am not the one threatening your position." Eclipse merely said.

"He is not a threat to my authority and I will prove it to you." He said, using the claws on his hands to slash open the yellow bag. Quite a large amount of a liquid came from it and, soon, a black body with grey streaks on his head quills emerged. However, his body fell with a loud thud, without any movement.

"So, what do we got here? Tired?" He challenged, before slapping him. "Weren't you going to kill all those enemies? That you wanted, to use the element of surprise and take them by surprise? Well, guess what? Everyone on their world probably knows there is something wrong with the swa..." Suddenly, his words of complain changed into screams o pain, as the knocked down hedgehog put a hand on Black Death's head, applying force with killing intend.

"Shut up! Know your place." Mephiles the dark, despite no having a mouth, ordered. The Black Creature couldn't soften his grip, thinking that he could die at any moment. At least, until his strength faded again, falling to the floor.

Black Death breathed heavily, well aware that could have been his end. He put a finger close to the mouthless hedgehog's neck, ready to eliminate him. But, despite his desires, he could not bring himself to do it. "Take him somewhere for rest."

"Take him yourself." Eclipse waved his hands, dismissing him.

"I rule here!"

"It is clear that's not true."

 _About a week later_

Wave opened her eyes, feeling like her head was ran over by a train. However, the bird woman felt weightless, for whatever reason and her vision was weird, as if she was underwater. She tried to move, but both her arms and legs were tied up by something. She finally understood her situation: She was inside a tank of greenish liquid, tied by arms and legs, unable to move, while breathing to a mask connected to the outside. Reasonably, the swallow was screaming in panic, trying to squirm free in any way she could.

"Hey! Calm down!" She heard a voice, clearly, as if she was not in water. Wave wanted to scream her head of, but she knew screaming like a mad girl in this situation would not get her out, so she remained silent. It helped that she recognized his voice. "Look, I am Knuckles, do you remember? Tails got you here to help you. He didn't tell you anything?" The echidna asked and Wave felt furious.

"HE DOESN'T TELL ME SHIT ABOUT ANYTHING!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, which made Knuckles ear hurt a little.

"Of course he didn't." Knuckle rolled his eyes. "Look, what happened is that we found an alternative cure to your sickness. We had an experimental procedure and, from our data, it seems you were cleanse from the monster transformation thingy." Knuckles lied, not giving away the information about the Black Arms, though he was not sure how important that really was anymore.

"Wow, wow, wow, wow. You people had a cure for that? Why don't you share it?"

"It is experimental. Out of the few test we have made, about only half of them were successful. Also, we monitored you for about a week to make sure there wasn't any... side effects." Knuckles added.

"A week!" Wave said surprised. "How? When? And...Tails..." She whispered, as memory started to flood back about that day. "HE TRIED TO EAT ME!" The swallow couldn't see it, but there was a general ambiance of fear and concern the moment she said that. "...And the Black Arms."

"They have been dealt with." Knuckles said, trying to ease the uncomfortable air. "Tails is here too, if you want to see him..."

"No!" Wave interrupted him.

"... Look, we will get you out of there. I am going to go see how he is doing and you should." Knuckles said.

"...Just get me out of this." She said. In a few seconds, the liquid of the tank got drained and the swallow was permitting free roaming. She also grabbed a nearby bath robe, to cover herself. She wasn't nude, wearing a bikini, but she welcomed it.

"So, how is the new arm?" Knuckles asked, and Wave opened her eyes a lot. She did remember that Tails cut her arm clean, but she wasn't aware of the fact that she had a new metal arm. It was like a robot arm: a small sphere piece for shoulder, a short thing arm, a much robust forearm and a metal hand. She closed her hand, feeling not any different from before. But Wave didn't look angry or surprised about it, she was just in shock. "Also, Tails was awake for a moment a while ago. He told me to give you this." He said, handing him the gold bracelet Tails had a while ago and the green pendant he stole earlier.

"...Why do you still care for Tails?" Wave asked the echidna.

"How could I..." Knuckles started, but the bird girl beat him to it.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! HE IS A MONSTER! HE TRIED TO EAT ME!" She snapped at the echidna. "I have tried and I feel pity for Tails, but after this, what can you tell me that will change my mind?" Wave demanded the echidna, much more at control.

"...Did you know that Tails takes some medicine?" Knuckles said. Wave only lifted an eyebrow. "Look, I am not going to say that I am an expert in the matter, but Tails needs that drug to... tranquilize himself."

"Are you kidding me?!" Wave snapped again. "That thing made him oblivious to pain. A piece of metal pierced his stomach and he couldn't feel it! How is that part of a healthy drug?!"

"Look, from what I understand, to survive whatever attacked him, he suffered several mental damage and needed to sharp his senses intensively. This, eventually evolved into a second personality and the only way we discovered for him to return to normal, was to overload his senses and dull them. Ironically, things that supposedly fog the judgement of a person, block this personality and lets the Tails we all know to work like he does." Knuckles said.

Instantly, a few words spew the night Tails went murderous pooped to her mind: *Have you considered that I am the 'real' Tails.*

"Not only his tact was damaged too: His taste buds, reaction time, smell, all these are hit by the drug. I know his listening capacities too, but mostly when he is fast asleep."

More events of the time she spent with Tails flashed on her mind: The tea, her not being able to wake him up, the pork that she could smell but he only reacted to when he looked at it.

"Look, honestly speaking, there is no justification, for his actions. He is a jerk, but he is still our little brother." Knuckles said.

Before Wave knew it they had reached the infirmary, particularly, where they had the young fox. Unlike Wave, the fox was on a bed, with several machines attached to him. She first thought that she was in a tough spot, but it was clear that fox was in a much more dire state, still bandaged and clearly ragged. But she didn't care. All she knew, was that the moment she lay eyes on him, she just wanted to get away from him. So she turned around, without much thought or words, but with the feeling that her robot arm suddenly ached.

Knuckles dropped his arms, really hoping for her to at least see how he was. Still, he couldn't just leave her alone. "Wave, you can't go around anywhere you want."

"Watch..." Wave was ready to challenged, but suddenly, four soldiers had surrounded her with different weapons, stopping her every movement. "...me."

"You are inside the most reserved country in the world. You can't just do that." Knuckles said. A second after that, he put his hand on his ear. "Yeah?" He said, at ease, but suddenly, his eyes opened a lot. "Guys, let the swallow go." Knuckles said and they immediately pull their weapons away. "Come with me. There is something you must see." He said, dragging her.

"What?" She asked, but there was no answer and they soon found themselves inside the commander chamber.

"Knuckles, we are sure about..." Shade started but then noticed the swallow. "...She is a civilian. Why did you let her here?"

"The bird warriors among the invaders." Knuckles said. Wave was surprise on the rather professional way he demanded to get back into the situation.

Quickly, the screens on the room lit up. There was a group of anthros battling an overwhelming number of aliens. A few close-up shots showed Sonic, frozen in one place, while Amy tried to shake him up with no avail, while another showed Silver, lying on the floor and squirming violently, with red lights around him instead of his traditional greenish aura with Marine trying to help him and Blaze guarding them with her rapier at hand. All of them were severely damaged, but one final close up showed an avian anthro, altered in a similar way as the swallow, with two blade fans on each hand.

Wave recognized him immediately. "JET!"

 _About a week ago_

The hedgehog felt as if his head was about to blow up, in pain. He tried to lift his arm to his head and, while he succeeded, it brought an immeasurable amount of pain, almost giving up mid way.

"Oh, you are not dead yet." Eclipse said, with a bored expression. He had tried to eliminate the eerie hedgehog in his sleep, but just the thought of doing it alarmed Black Death and the latter would started using his psychic powers to make it impossible. One of the disadvantages of being part of a collective, hive-mind society, while being one of the only two creatures with complete free will.

"What happened? Why everything aches?" Mephiles asked.

"You overexerted. Your shadow clones thingies were not enough for stopping a single fox." Eclipse commented. For whatever reason, he had a bag on his arm.

He left out the fact that he was somewhat impressed: Black Doom, the original king of the hive, could only generate a few avatars of himself, for small scale attacks, while Mephiles managed to generate thousands of copies of different creatures and vehicles from a handful of originals. Admittedly, he needed the machine they used earlier to do so, to connect him to the hive, since he wasn't a pure Black Creature, but it was still impressive.

The key words being that he wasn't a pure Black Creature, enough reason for Eclipse to be harder on him than necessary. "Mind your tongue." Mephiles told him.

"Why? Right now, you are helpless." Eclipse said.

"Hope you..." Mephiles started, extending his arms and pushing him up... and a shake came to his arms, the pain so intolerable, that he had to return to his position. "When I get my strength." He said, eating his pride for the moment.

It was until now, that he noticed his surroundings, strange squishy purple thingies covered the metal walls and floor surrounding him, some weird irregular formations where several eggs were stored and incubated. The only dim light in the room gave the place an purplish coloration and, for whatever reason, there was a constant crouching sound on the air, constantly going on between seconds.

A few moments later, two eggs broke open, releasing two Black Larvaes. Eclipse moved to them and, from the bag, took an ugly looking, slimy green worm and, suddenly, the Larvaes moved up excitedly, almost like baby birds, waiting for their meal. The adult Black Arm released a worm and the larvaes started to chew it, consuming the small creature and chewing it, leaving a green mess on the floor and on Eclipse. The latter did not care about that and just smiled softly.

Mephiles was not sure what he was watching. "Ignore the breeder." Black Death said, appearing on his side.

"He will pay for his tongue, eventually." Mephiles answered.

"You too have a lot to answer: Angel Island and Shadow know about our operation. What do you say about that?"

"I have no reason to explain myself."

"What?!" Black Death said annoyed. It was here, that Mephiles grabbed the head of the three eye alien. The event repeated itself, Mephiles taking control while Black Death was helpless, pointlessly struggling. Eventually, Mephiles pushed him away.

"Know your place." The hedgehog said. Black Death glared him to dead, but not much else.

*Not too late to kill him by overwhelming him.* Eclipse suggested psychly and the Black Arms leader seriously considerate it.

*Attention, hive! We have trailed after the energy signature we were ordered. We have found a signature in another dimension.* Both heard, from a random soldier.

"...I have something to show you." Black Death said. Soon, from the purple, squashy texture emerged a small pillar, about half size of an anthro and showed them a vision. It showed a purple cat, with white clothing.

"Blaze the cat." Mephiles said. However, then, the cat woman met with a white hedgehog. "...The stars align." He chuckled.

"How are the other two?" He had not finished the question when two gust of wind appeared out of nowhere. When the strong winds stopped, two avian anthros appeared. And, similar to the swallow, had a grayish plumage with red on their hands and no irises, just white on their eyes. Eclipse was annoyed that the winds threw off his bag of worms, but just sighed his anger away.

"When I get my strength back, we invade." Mephiles said.

"Have you forgotten about Shadow and his dimension?!" Black Death almost snapped at him.

"It won't matter as long as I get my hands on Iblis." Mephiles reassured.

* * *

OK, I wasn't planning on using comics characters in general, but thought that it would be better than using OC and thought that the place where the Black Creatures lived would feel to empty. So, Eclipse and Black Death are here too. I also debated with myself about revealing Mephiles so soon, but thought it was better this way. Stay cool people.

Also, to avoid confusion, Mephiles had this weird shadow power that let him generate hundreds of copies of himself. It is that ability, with his connection to the Black Arms through his connection to Shadow the hedgehog, and the machine from the Black Arms, that enables him to generate armies of Black Arms soldiers and weapons and what not.


	24. Dispute

[Just a few more minutes.] Blaze thought. The fiery princess wore a dress, with a huge skirt that reached her feet, with several vertical lines of red, yellow and white on it. The shirt was mostly white with yellow shoulder pieces. She had modest make-up, a bit of blush on her cheeks, a red eyeliner and some lipstick. She didn't mind all the fancy stuff: Even as a little kitten, she had little issue with the idea of wearing expensive or difficult clothing.

She always looked forward to it, but there was a strange feeling behind it. As years went on, the best way she could describe was that, she felt like it was something she didn't have before? It was weird, even now.

But her haste into changing to her mission clothing came from the simple fact that she felt she was wasting time, even though it was her birthday. The birthday of the princess was a huge celebration, as thousands of people from different parts of the world came to see her. If you looked the island from the outside, there were thousands of yachts of ridiculous designs and clearly very expensive, docked at every port of the island. However, that kind of attention could attract unwanted attention so different kinds of military ships waited a little further, forming a sort of protective barrier around the main island.

"Mast head lookout! Any new information?!" Marine shouted, at the koala up there.

"...Nothing new." He replied.

"Thanks for the update!" She replied, before turning around and going through the captain's cabin door. A second went on before she slammed-open the door. "Mast head lookout! Any new information?!" She repeated.

"...Nothing new."

"Thanks for the update!" She repeated. She was about to go back and repeat the process, like she had for the last twenty times, but Silver the hedgehog caught her with his psychic powers. The raccoon opened her eyes a lot.

"Mutiny! Mutiny!" She screamed a few times, but his fellow sailors didn't pay her much attention. "Are you kidding me?! I am the Captain?!" She screamed, but things didn't change.

"Maybe they would... IF THIS WASN'T THE THIRD TIME I STOP YOU TODAY!" Silver said. "Seriously, the celebration will end soon."

"But there won't be any action today?!" She replied.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Silver said. "You want something bad to happen on Blaze's celebration?!"

"Of course not. Just, something small: a little pirate, some robot, anything that we can handle without much issue." She said, while touching the tips index with each other. "Today has been such a boring day!" Marine explained, with a cry to the sky.

He squinted his eyes, really thinking this was ridiculous. Sadly, for Marine, her crew didn't have the social status to be received in the party. She might not like it, but they were mercenaries at best and pirates at worst. Serving as protection for the elite was the only way they could make it to the party. They had agreed on having a mini private celebration with her when it was over. Even at that distance, it was easy to see the castle and the banners that were put to celebrate the day. The banners had suns with red and yellow rays and, in the middle, a purple kitty curled into a ball represented the sun.

From what the royal family had told Blaze, 26 years ago, on the day she was born, there was a earthquake that shook the entire planet. It didn't mattered at what edge you were, you felt it. Volcanoes activated and tsunamis hit the beaches. But, along side all that, new islands emerged from the sea, increasing drastically the amount of land in the world, along with new materials now used in every construction and new treasures were found or were easier to access.

And, over one of the main islands, a ball of light fell slowly. As the light's intensity diminished, the form of a purple, just born kitty appeared, right in front of the leaders of the island.

That event was seen as a message from the sky, as if the world and its rules were rewriting themselves, demanding a change on the world itself. The island that received Blaze became the main Island and the earth of the royal family, as everyone expected the fiery cat to guide them. Yeah, the princess felt the pressure on more than one occasion, reason why she was so dedicated for her duties and her people.

And, as to be expected, the recent series of kidnappings had her on her toes. Still, taking a moment of rest and party should not kill her.

At that moment, Silver let go of the raccoon. "I am getting a headache just for being here with you." He said, petting the sides of his head. Without caring much about the situation, he moved back to his room, just hoping to ease his sudden headache.

However, something caught his eye: He went around, at the edge of the ship. On the ocean, riding an extreme gear board type, was a green bird, one that he recognized.

{...Why today?} Silver thought. He considered Jet a friend, but he also knew about his story and knew that he was a thief. To add salt to the wound, the Rogues tried to steal the Sol emeralds a few years ago, so the hedgehog knew he wasn't just passing around.

Still, he thought he could reason with him before things blew into conflict. Of course, he would take precautions. Just pointing at the hawk and using a bit of his psychic powers was enough to freeze him.

The hawk reacted as expected. "What the hell?!"

"Being a while Jet." Silver said, closing on him. "Look, I know you live from this, but could you guys stop stealing? It should be clear that you can't steal the Sol Emeralds. Also, today is Blaze's birthday and we really hope that she can have a easy celebration." Silver begged. At that moment, he also noticed a weird, black skin tight full body suit with red vertical streaks, with a hoodie behind his neck. "Also, what is with that look?"

"What are you talking about?!" He screamed. "Where are Storm and Wave?" He demanded, even if he was not in a favorable position.

Silver softened his frown. "Huh? Did you hit your head or something?"

"No!" He said. Only to retract a moment later. "I mean, maybe? I only remember being... somewhere else and, suddenly, the last thing I remember was that you caught me with your psychic thingy!"

Silver thought that was funny. He also could not help but feel how his headache was suddenly getting worse.

Suddenly, from the sea, a giant hand inside a yellow glove emerged and tried to wrap around the hedgehog. Using his ESP, he managed to form a force field, to avoid the hand from crushing him.

"Marine, we are under attack!" He shouted, to what the green anthro answered by pulling one of his green fans. A single swing generated this green energy slashes, cutting through the force field of the hedgehog. Silver's concentration weakened, and the giant hand pressed harder. Out of the blue, several explosive shots crashed against the hand and a line of fire appeared around the green anthro, forcing it to move.

"Everyone, prepare another charge and continue the assault!" The captain ordered, sitting on a turret and shooting bullets at the green anthro.

Jet did his best to dodge the rapid fire shots, but he could not get closer to the white hedgehog. But the tides of the battle turned again, as something hit the ship from below, sending it meters up into the air.

"Gyaaaaah!" Several screams were heard on the ship, as the entire crew barely managed to grab into something to not be sent flying, with a few luckless koalas that fell into the sea.

The thing that push him was another hand, also emerging from the sea. This hand then crashed against the first one, holding the white hedgehog even tighter and sinking to the sea, with the green hawk going underwater too.

Marine noticed this and jumped into the sea with Olympic skill, diving into the sea. However, no matter how hard she searched, there was nothing there anymore: no giant thing, green anthro or Silver.

[Shit, I jinxed it!] Thought Marine, going up to the surface.

 _In another dimension_

Mephiles, in his monster form, had both hands up, opening a worm hole that permitted both Babylon Rogues return, with the white hedgehog in Storm's clutches. Both anthros had that grey and red color that defined the Black Creatures, with their dead eyes. Something that was jarring was the fact that Mephiles was also wearing a skin suit, his body completely covered by the black and red spandex, with a visor to permit him see.

Storm was in a much smaller and manageable figure, around twice his normal size and held the white hedgehog with both hands. The latter had his hands on his head, trying to concentrate in escaping, while powering through the pain. Yet, his psychic aura now had turned red and was not doing anything.

"Perfect. It is time to kill him." Mephiles said, panting loudly. His remaining energy was very low, tired of just opening two worm holes to let them in and out of the Sol Dimension. But now, he had Silver the hedgehog, one of the only creatures that should recognize him and know how much of a threat he was. With him gone, he would be one big step ahead of his opponents.

Jet the hawk pulled out his bladed fans and thrust one of them in direction to the hedgehog. Then, for an unclear reason, the hawk missed, gracing the hand of the albatross.

The latter put his hand away from the pain, holding the hedgehog with only one hand. Silver, using the last bit of his willpower, bit the remaining hand, hurting Storm and forcing him to open his grip.

Still in pain, he tried to escape, but even with a modest jog, the pain on his head became unbearable. And that speed was not enough to dodge a rock bombardment from Black Death. Now, most of the hedgehog's body was buried.

They noticed how the hedgehog struggled, but also, how he could not use his powers to escape. Mephiles guessed that the effect the birds had on Shadow also affected Silver, just differently: instead of the disintegration progress, they affect his psychic powers, turning them off. It was an unexpected side-effect, but a welcome one. "Game over, hedgehog." Black Death enjoyed the situation, from its arm, a purple energy whip formed. Then, he flail the weapon once, slashing the hedgehog on the back.

"Gah!" Was all that Silver could say, opening his eyes a lot, but still trying to get back up. The Black Arm leader continued, flailing the whip like a madman, slashing Silver's body over and over again, a sinister smile all over his face.

"Just get over with that." Mephiles ordered.

"Geez, relax. I will be done in a minute." Black Death said, turning to look at Mephiles with lazy eyes. Right after that, a purple blaster shot came, a little to close to him.

Looking at the source, he noticed a black arm with the gub, shaking around while standing in a strange position, with its legs and arms twisted uncomfortably. Said soldier shot again, this time his arm shooting behind him to an empty spot of the roof. That was not concerning for the alien or the mouth less hedgehog. What was concerning, was the fact that several of the Black Arms were acting the same.

Even the two brainwashed birds were acting irregularly, Jet flailing his arms up and down while stomping the floor. Storm did the same, but it was much worse because he was constantly going bigger and smaller, shaking the place a bit. "Hey, stop! All of you quiet down!" Black Death ordered, putting a hand on his head. He didn't need it, but he was used to do it and even believed it helped him concentrate.

However, when he used his mental powers, he could not connect with anyone. When he tried to connect, no other mental receptor was on his radar and he even heard something like a *crunch* sound. "Nooo." He said lowly, his three eyes opening a lot in surprise.

And the chaos continued, as more and more of the Black Arms attacked each other and the air. Mephiles was doing his best to avoid any damage, but, at one point, Jet's wind slashed the creepy hedgehog, hurting him and cutting through his clothing. Instantly, the anthro felt ill, his hand going to his head. Black Death noticed this and dived directly to Mephiles, grabbed him and changed his direction, going upward where the Black Hawks and Black Wings flailed around, but were less threatening than their ground force.

However, from up there, they both noticed all the chaos, as every other alien was blasting each other, or crashing, or punching, or... well, everything that wasn't rational. The room and subsequent areas produced explosive sounds, which only made the two of them panic a bit more.

"Dammit, don't fly away! We need to find Silver!" Mephiles ordered, with an arm over the ripped area, almost like he was trying to stop a bleeding wound.

"Can you forget about that hedgehog for a minute?!" Black Death replied, flying toward the breeding, which was not any better, the aliens still fighting chaotically. However, there was also Eclipse, the only other alien who was not fighting back.

Instead, the Black larvaes were pilling up to him, two on his arms, one on his torso and two on his back, sucking his life out while he tried to remove them without harming then. Luckily for him, Black Death came and helped him, one larvae at the time.

Basically, the floating alien grabbed the larvaes and pulled them with all his strength, while the grounded one resisted. Soon, the first larvae let go, with a *pop* sound. There were 4 more to go on Eclipse and the one on Black Death's arms stuck said hands together, making the process even longer.

Mephiles thought he could not wait any longer and his headache made it even less tolerable. So, he lifted one hand and blasted Eclipse with a large, but weak ball of energy. The plan? Killing the weak larvaes and harming Eclipse as little as possible.

However, the tailed soldier had a different idea, putting his back to Mephiles and curling into a ball, using his body as protection from the attack.

Mephiles did not get the results he expected, but, at least, he got their attention. "What is wrong with you?!" Eclipse demanded.

"Look, I don't have time to deal with you. We need to find the white hedgehog." Mephiles said.

"Oh no, you are not dodging the question you hear me?!" Eclipse demanded, moving closer to the anthro, wanting to start a stare down contest. Black Death got on his way, keeping them at double arm length.

"Look, I don't need you fighting right now. We need to solve this problem. Ever since the hedgehog came in, my control over the army has gone away." The alien leader explained.

"Did Silver had powers like that?" Eclipse asked Mephiles.

"He can now."

"What?!" Both aliens asked at unison.

"The modifications we applied on the birds - the ones meant to kill Shadow - seems to also have an effect on this hedgehog. It nullified his psychic powers but, apparently, it also nullified yours." He explained. Then, he glared at Black Death. "Had we eliminated the hedgehog faster, none of this would have happened!"

"You didn't put any effort to explain properly!" BD excused himself.

"We put all our efforts to find and kill the hedgehog, now." Mephiles ordered, walking away.

"Wait, he is probably using this chaos to hide himself and it will be next to impossible. Instead, let's use the special garments of the birds to stop the effect they have on Silver and then we search for him." Eclipse walked at his side, at a slightly faster rate.

"No. If we let Silver loose on this place, he alone could extinct the Black Arms." Mephiles explained, not stopping. Out of nowhere, Eclipse crashed against Mephiles, pushing him away. As the hedgehog crashed, he observed a rather large chunk of structure fall just on the spot where he was walking to.

"Look freak, there won't be any Black Arms if we don't stop them now, so I am going to suit your birds up and then find the enemy." And with that, he ran to the portal.

"I gave you an order!" Mephiles said, in vain, as Eclipse continued his journey, followed by Black Death. (I am stuck with sentimental weaklings.) He thought, cursing his actual weakness.

Meanwhile, Eclipse had returned to the portal room, observing at the distance the two bird anthros. However that room was a splatterhouse, as blood of his brothers was spilled everyone. Apparently, the two bird anthros were too strong for them.

The darkling felt the fury boil up in his mind, the solution clear. He tried to clench his fist but remembered that some larvaes were stuck on his hand, so he resisted the temptation. Instead, he concentrated and mutated his body.

His face winced visibly as his different body parts of his body expanded drastically. Arms, legs, head, everything increased in size in a rythmical manner, veins exposing themselves through his skin. More impressive, the red on his skin turned solid, including the lines on his head, becoming like a red, metal crown. He had entered his monster form.

Still careful enough to not harm the larvaes on him, he jumped right between the two of them and him them with his elbows on the head. Without they motor control, they could not block the blow and were knocked down.

But no matter how good that felt, Eclipse wanted more. "It is all because of you outsider. No more." He said, lifting one leg above the head of one of the anthros and ready to smash his brains out.

"Woah, Eclipse, stop. Just put their hoddies up." Black Death came, just in time to stop him from killing Jet.

While the darkling hesitated, he still threw his leg at the green bird, but the king of the Black Arms saw it coming, using a purple beam to push Jet out of his reach.

The floor before Eclipse's foot cracked visibly, powerful enough that the quake shook the flailing soldiers nearby and made them fall. But he still wanted to eliminate Jet.

"Eclipse, stop. Save your strenght. We will need it for the white hedgehog if he is as dangerous as Mephiles suggests." Black Death blocked his way.

"Stop being such a pansy and let's kill these intruders! This is not worth it!" Eclipse said, not stopping even if Black Death was blocking his way with all his might.

"Know your place, worm." Mephiles said, earning the attention of the two of them.

"Oh no! Your time has come!" He changed direction, thinking that killing him would be the most satisfying thing he has ever done.

"Stop or the larvaes die." Mephiles said and something finally stopped the creature.

"...Oh no, you didn't."

"I did. I left a little surprise with your babies. You misbehave and tell goodbye to your wormies." Mephiles explained.

"You alien s..." He wanted to keep moving but Mephiles lifted a hand, with absolute confidence. That gesture alone made him stop, with an ice cold shiver going down his spine.

"Snap." He said, sliding his thumb against his index finger. "If you hear that sound, you won't even have a chance to say goodbye to the little ones. Now, return to your normal size, put their hoodies up, do as you are told and hope I never do that. For the little one." Mephiles said each part slowly, savoring the impotency of the alien.

Now, he was as furious as it was possible, the thought that he would kill Mephiles now, to stop another hostage situation like this, even at the cost of the actual generation of larvas emerged and tempted him. The only real reason why he didn't do it right there, was Black Death, silently begging not to screw things up. He felt defeated, but more importantly, he felt betrayed and a traitor himself.

He returned to his normal size, knelled to the anthros and put the hoodies over their heads. Instantly, the hoodie took the shape of their heads, covering completely, looking like spandex, identical to Mephiles. "I will murder you someday." Eclipse swore.

"Good luck with that." Was Mephiles answer.

After just a few seconds, BD could connect again to the collective hive mind of the Black Arms, returning to their basic orders but adding a new one: finding the white hedgehog and killing him at first sight.

 _Author note_

 _Ok, I apologize for the hiatus on everything. I hope I can continue writting and not find myself wasting my time like I did_ _for the past two months._


	25. Escape from the Black Arms

_Back at the Sol dimension_

(Dammit!) Blaze was stomping her way out of the celebration room. A moment ago, the Sol Emeralds flared, and the cat felt it. Without a warning, apology or word, the cat princess stood from her chair and walked (run) away, despite the odd looks she earned from the people surrounding her. But they were not her priority and they would understand her disappearance.

If the emeralds were acting funny, then a storm was coming. (One more thing to the list.) She noted the annoyance on her inner voice.

So, she opened her closet, removed her formal clothing and changed into her work clothing, while bringing her rapier. Then, Marine slam opened her door.

"Blaze! Silver was eaten by the sea!" She screamed, not stopping her run because at least ten soldiers were following her. Aside from her normal clothing, this time, she carried a cylinder with a yellow mouth on her back, to carry drinkable water.

"I see." The cat princess turned around, noticing that Marine had to get up into the chandelier, while her soldiers down below surround her, in a way that if she tried to get down, they would get her. "Gentlemen, stop this. She is a guest." She said and, without questioning, they lowered their arms and returned to their positions.

"They have seen me a thousand times and they still get like this." The raccoon commented, annoyed, getting down from her spot.

"Follow me." Blaze said softly, walking away.

(She is in business mode. Is it just for Silver?) The raccoon thought. And, about a minute later, she got her answer.

The Sol Emeralds were kept in a special room, with tons of security systems, both technological and mystical. The room itself was hidden behind a normal looking wall. With a simple touch of the wall and then a whistle by the princess, a small pad appearing, demanding what would one deduce was a hand print. The catch, however, was that it demand Blazes specific power signature, her fire powers that could not be simply replicated.

So, Blaze used a tiny portion of her powers to the hand print and the wall revealed a passage to a round room. The catch now was that, there were more panels like the one she used before, hidden in the walls. The trick was that you needed to do it in rapid succession, or else the room would trap you itself and floor, while spinning rapidly to disorient any intruder. Blaze needed only a few seconds to imprint her power into the nine panels in the room.

Right after that, the emeralds emerged from a flat, rectangular block containing them. Blaze didn't need to pull them out, as the mystic gems floated around her, at their own whim. Before long, the gems flew outside the room, close to were Marine was safely waiting for her, moved in circles and formed a purple portal. "Wow." Marine said, genuinely surprised.

"It seems they want you to accompany us." Blaze pointed out.

"Yeah, dimension travel!" Marine exclaimed happily. Every time that there was dimension travel involved, for whatever reason, the raccoon had to be left behind. Either Silver or Blaze, or both. Only once she left with Blaze, to celebrate Sonic's birthday and got stuck in a good number of time traveling shenanigans. But now, the raccoon, without awaiting the cat order or anything, jumped in. The princess let some air flow through her nose and followed her, with a small smirk on her face.

 _At the other side of the portal_

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Marine exclaimed, landing with her hands up and her legs together, as if she was some kind of Olympic athlete and expected the score presented by the judges. A second later, Blaze came through the portal and, unlike Marine, paid attention about how the grey and red aliens were pretty much slaughtering each other without any remorse. One in particular was sent flying and would have hit Marine, had Blaze not moved her away. The monster hit the wall and the crash sound was the thing that made the younger girl realized that there was something every wrong about that place.

The walls and floor were purple, but of different tones, the walls darker in comparison to the floor. The whole area, while having its own light coming from yellow orbs, was bleak, dim and depressing. There were several of these veins pumping a liquid that shifted from black, red and purple over and over again. Most of the rooms were spacious, with several aliens on each sowing chaos, but their moves were clumsy, unfocused, maybe unpredictable, but never directed to harming the girls, so they had little issue avoiding trouble. Littered around there were giant tentacles, swiping wildly and making things even crazier.

Without much else, the girls put their bodies against the walls, trying to remain less visible. "So, what now? Why the gems brought us here?"

"Hard to tell."

"What?!" Marine let go.

"It is usually very cryptic. All you need to know is that it is always a world ending event." Blaze explained.

"No pressure, huh?" Without much else, the girls explored, only able to guess what is around each corner.

One of the firsts rooms they passed through was a room that could only be described as the inside of a beehive, as several hexagonal purple holes had this purple masses filled those spaces. Some even had life to themselves, looking like squashy volcanoes.

And, just like the other aliens, they shook uncontrollably, clearly something wrong with them.

They left the room, since it was a dead end, and, both could not help but notice that the soldiers started to ease up, their continuous shaking ending and stopping doing nonsense. Suddenly, their movements became synchronized and with purpose.

 _Elsewhere_

Mephiles had just defused a situation with the other two sentient beings but the hedgehog felt a familiar jolt running through his body. "...We got company."

"Seriously?! More shit?!" Eclipse let go.

"The Iblis carrier is here." He explained.

"The cat?" Black Death said, putting a hand on his head. It took him a while, but finally, some of the Black Wings spotted the girls, silently travelling around. "The cat and a raccoon. Now what?"

Mephiles chuckled at the prospect. "If we fight the cat woman at her full power, she will eliminate the army like it is nothing." He pointed out.

"Then we should get her out immediately!" Eclipse panicked.

"No. Make the soldiers ignore her for now. Keep an eye on them discretely. Black Death, keep looking for Silver via the Black Arms. When you find him, do not engage and send Eclipse against him." The hedgehog said. Then, he directed his gaze to Eclipse. "Do not attack until the Black Arms are at chaos again."

Eclipse was ready to protest, but the floating alien talked over him. "And what are you going to do, if I can ask?"

At that moment, Mephiles was apparently becoming smaller, his feet disappearing. By the time he started talking again, there was only torso and upward. "I will entertain the princess." At that moment, his physical body disappeared, but his shadow remained. Then, even this became a black line on the floor and moved away at the blink of an eye.

 _Back with the girls_

"Hang on." Blaze said lowly and grabbed Marine's hand. Without another word, the cat sped up and ran up the wall to the roof. She thrust her blade through the metal and used to hold the two girls in place.

"Marine, silence." Blaze ordered.

"But I did not say anything." Marine whined, but the fiery princess ignored it.

Not letting go of her partner, the cat jumped from the wall and expelled fire from her feet, with enough push forward to hover.

Avoiding as many of the creatures as possible, the girls got to the next room. But just when they were about to exit the room, the flailing from the tentacles hit them, sending them flying a bit.

Blaze landed on her feet, but Marine was not that lucky, falling on one of the mentioned veins and, somehow, got absorbed by it. The flow of the vein flushed her upward. "Marine!" Blaze could not hold the scream and it would cost her, as one of the Black Hawks shot her, hitting her on the gut.

She managed to bounce back on her feet and with the wave of her hand, a giant firewall appeared, burning her attacker into nothingness.

She turned around and was about to jump into the vein too, but her shadow deformed right in front of her, making her flinch. The feline generated another firewall and the shadow dissipated, but now, something came behind her, wrapping an arm against her head and the other holding her arms on place.

"Hello, Princess." The princess heard on her ear. Her face strained for a moment, and the next second, a giant fire started, eating her.

The fire died down as quickly as it started, the princess searching everywhere for her attacker. Then, once again coming from the blind spot, receiving a punch to her face.

Blaze generated another fire, but it found nothing yet again. Blaze first thought was the possibility of an invisible opponent, so she closed her eyes, trying to let her other senses guide her. But another blow came and, prior to the sound of the punch, there was nothing. No sound, no wind, not anything to predict the movement.

And now, the single blow became a barrage, as blow after blow crashed against her face.

Meanwhile, Marine was also in trouble, as a giant alien stood in front of her. It lifted his hammer and aimed to crash it against the raccoon. Marine rolled away and, willing a water saber, she cut its hands off. The monster wailed in pain.

The alien stepped away, which permitted Marine to see the full picture: behind it, there were these purple mountains of meat. Said things suddenly opened a single green eye and extended their wings. And they moved toward her.

"Crap!" Marine let go, returning to the vein stream. (Anything is better than this.) She thought.

Then, she came out of the stream, only to suddenly being chomped by something. Wherever she was, it was sticky, squashy and constantly moving. There was no way she wanted to be there for longer than she needed to. A swift movement with her arm and her aqua kinetic powers let her cut the creature in half and get out of there, though covered in disgusting fluids.

"Eeeewww." The girl wiped her face clean. This was only the beginning, because the ground started shaking. Around her, these small sandstorms formed, and from their spots these giant worms appeared, not fully emerging from the ground.

Marine then clenched her fist, although not fully, and put one over the other. Then, a broadsword made of water appeared over her hands. With a swift slash, she cut the closest enemy.

"I wanna see you try getting me!" Marine challenged. Then, the worms arched forward, opened their mouths and a blue pointer light. Then, from their mouths, these blue bullets came. Marine ran away, noticing that these were slow. But she panicked as these bullets changed direction, following her.

Then there were the many worms emerging from the floor to sucker punch her. One emerged in front of her and in a continuous movement, pointed their inner gun to her, at point blank range. Marine was able to morph from the sword to a lance and pierced right through the animal. This only made the beast shoot upward, making some rocks crumble from the roof and cutting her pathway.

By then, the bolts that were previously following her caught up to her. She was barely able to lift a water shield to block some of the impact.

The moment that light touched the water, a large explosion pushed Marine to the floor, sending shock waves to her entire body. She hit the floor, trying her best to soldier the pain and get back up. For support, she summoned a water staff, to help her stand up. She looked again at the creatures.

It was strange that the worms had stopped aiming at her. It was then that she noticed that the worms were looking up and visibly shaking. Followed after that, her water powers just... turned off as the water staff deformed, spilling the floor. Because of the lack of a support, she fell on her face and crashed against something made of metal.

"Awww." She whined, and felt the cool of something metal on her face. Marine opened her eyes and noticed this slick cylinder of metal, round on one tip with a small hole, while the other end had a large hole, where one could introduce his/her arm.

Then, the trembling started to get violent. The worms exited and re-entered the ground over and over. Marine instinctively grabbed the thingy, thinking it was probably safer with it than without it.

The feline pointed it, a blue trail coming from its smaller tip and, from what she could deduce, it was locked on one of the worms. (Wait, this is... inside all the worms?) She thought.

Then, with a *fuss* sound, it shoot is projectile and blasted a worm. "Yes." The girl said, in victory. A second later, several worms came out, surrounding her. "...Today is not my day."

Meanwhile, Blaze continued to throw her fire around, since it seemed to make the assaults stop, even if only temporarily. But then, her fire powers failed. And the next instant, she felt a scaly hand on her felt and pushed her to the floor, with enough strength that it cracked.

"Finally." The voice returned. She pulled her rapier and tried to cut the arm but it proved ineffective. "Gave over, little princess"

Mephiles knew he couldn't just absorb Iblis, not fully and much less with the headache that started forming, but just a drop would re-energize the monster hedgehog. Then, he would knock and lock the fire cat. A constant battery to power him up. He was looking forward to it.

Mephiles forced the energy transfer, the yellow light coming from the tips of his clawed finger and walking upward. However, when the light got on his wrists, felt that something was terribly wrong.

He knew it was going to be painful, but this was agonizing. It took a few steps before kneeling down, trying to force the power further down. But he could swear the fire was bouncing inside, breaking his muscles and bones.

And the pain was enough for Blaze to escape and get into the vein flow. "F-fuck." Mephiles whispered, the pain barely bearable.

Blaze managed to get to a room, full of large alien monsters fighting each other and the nothing again.

For the fiery princess, it was not difficult to maneuver through the chaos, but without an idea of where were Marine and Silver, what could she do? Where could she go?

And, all of this that happened so far. Separating her from Marine, that particular monster that attacked. Was it planned? Could the creatures be pretending to be mindless monsters just to put them on a false sense of security and then exploit an opening? But then, the way the aliens ripped their limbs and heads, or blasted each other up with their firearms. Was all that really necessary, just to keep her off balance?

Then, the princess looked at her hands. She concentrated, trying to generate a fire. It felt odd, as most of her life, she had to hold the fire back instead of trying to generate more. But the effort was futile, as the princess was now fireless.

Then, the distracted princess felt wind against her fur. She dropped her entire body to the floor, flat, and one of the Black Bulls passed above her, barely missing her by an inch.

She knew she could not stay still any longer. So, Blaze started running down the passages, avoiding alien threat after alien. But her ears caught something among all the chaos. A coherent mumbling. Heading to its origin, Blaze found a weird giant humanoid thingy of red and grey, walking around. But it was different from the rest. It was purposeful.

He got to a specific part of the floor and, without any warning, punched right through a grilled floor. Then, pulling his arm, he also pulled Silver from there. The white hedgehog was covered by a purple sticky substance, as well of a red aura, instead of his teal one. He struggled against the monster hand, but even at that distance, the girl could tell Silver was helpless.

Blaze burrowed her eyebrows, and prepared her assault plan. Eclipse threw to the floor harshly. "Keep you alive. Yeah right." Eclipse spat, barely holding his anger in check.

At that moment, the creature visible grew taller and buffer, and Blaze reconsidered her strategy, thinking that a brawl could be too complicated.

"Screw Mephiles." He took impulse and threw his fist, hitting the floor and generating a giant crack. But there was no spat on the floor, unlike he expected. "What?..." He looked around, and saw the purple princess running at great speed with the victim on her back.

"Nooooo." Eclipse screamed, following them. And he was catching up to them.

Blaze saw this. Usually, she could give Sonic a run for his money, but with her fire powers at her limit and without a burden. Still, she was not going down without a fight.

So, she skidded a few meters, aiming to stop herself. Then, timing it correctly, she threw Silver upward, just as the giant closed the distance between each other. He threw a punch, to what Blaze ducked and answered with a kick to its face, her leg extended perfectly vertical.

However, the monster was as hard as... Blaze wasn't even sure, as she had kicked through rocks, metal and whatnot with ease, but this was much harder. And the monster was barely shaken, as it used the other arm and hit Blaze support foot.

The cat lost her footing, but used one hand to push herself upward again, above the monster. It reached to grab her, but she was too fast. Blaze, upside down, touched Silver with her feet and pushed the hedgehog, who was starting to fall because of gravity.

At the second their bodies met, Blaze hand went to her rapier and clenched it hard. Then, she impulsed herself using the knocked hedgehog as footing to rocket back down, all while pushing Silver upward again. Maybe too hard because she heard a *Bam* above her.

But that was for later. Putting all her strength into one hit, she put her rapier forward and pierced Eclipse hand, nailing it to the floor. She aimed for his head, but managed to at least stop him. "Black Doom damn it." He flailed the free arm, but Blaze was already too far.

She ran and jumped from the wall, catching Silver mid-air and landing far from the alien. So, with her package on the back, she searched for her missing ally.

"B-blaze." The hedgehog murmured, weak. Tired. Maybe at the brink of dead

"Rest. I will handle it." Blaze said.

"Come back!" Eclipse screamed. He used his free hand and, while it demanded all his monster strength, pulled out the rapier. He then crushed the saber on his hand, breaking it into small pieces.

He wanted to pursuit them, but he knew his monster form was seconds from dissolving, and with his reserves running thin, there was no way he was no match for her. "If only Mephiles kept his part of the bargain." It complained.

Blaze carried Silver to the next room and this one looked promising. The signs of struggle were evident with the eviscerated giant worms, with burnt marks on walls and death creatures. There was not much life remaining, except for some larvae above something orange...

Blaze's eyes opened as much as they could, before everything turned red. Without any thought, the cat closed the distance between them so fast that her legs were at her limit, and kicked each and everyone of the larvaes without any remorse.

Each mass of meat was sent flying and crashed against the walls, become large splats of purple and green.

Blaze reached for the raccoon. Her pulse and breathing was present though weak. (Thanks, Sol). Blaze thought. She was thankful that both of them were alive.

Without much else, Blaze ordered the Sol Emeralds to reemerge. Without much, the gems started to spin around the trio, slowly increasing their speed, soon turning into a blur of several colours. Then, the trio dissappeared, right before Black Death's eyes.

"...Fuck."

 _Elsewhere_

"Sonic, stop that!" Amy demanded.

Both hedgehog's were inside the motorhome. They were done with the city, got paid for the expedition and, remembering Chip's premonition, needed to go underwater for the next one. The easiest way to do so was via Tails, who owned a submarine. But Sonic was not looking forward to it.

A second ago, Amy had pulled out her cellphone, ready to call their fox friend. But the male ran past her and stole it.

"Doing what?" Sonic asked, fainting ignorance. She crashed against him, pushing him against the sink. The blue blur extended his arm up, putting it as far from her reach as possible.

Amy tried and failed to reach it, failing for just a few inches of difference. "Come on, Sonic. Stop being petty!" The pink hedgehog pushed harder against him.

Now, Sonic exagerated a grunt of pain, letting go of the phone into the sink. Amy tried to bypass him, but Sonic, with fainting clumsy movements and 'Whoas', he turned the water flow on, the liquid falling on the electric device.

"Gah!" Amy panicked.

"Upsy." Sonic let go, with a smirk across his face.

But Amy had a rather intense glare at him. Before he could do something about it, the girl punched him on the stomach. He bent forward from the pain.

"You know Sonic." Amy whispered on his ear, trying to sound calm and collected. It wasn't working in the slightest, but that's what she wanted. "I need a sparring partner."

Amy threw her other punch, aiming to hit his head, but Sonic slipped through her and ran as fast as his legs let him. "I am not done here." Amy said, touching a compartment that reveiled her extreme gear.

So, the girl hunted the hedgehog for a couple of minutes in a high speed cat and mouse game.

"Dammit Sonic. I was not done paying that one."

"Can't you just take a joke?"

"You are the joke!" Amy screamed and, somehow, his legs got tangled and tripped at high speeds, ending on the floor.

With that, Amy had no problem on catching up to him, floating above him. He tried to get up, but the pink woman threw her hammer at the slight movement. "Now, where were we?"

Suddenly, there was a heat coming at their side. "Heylookthatlooks..." Sonic fired, not really caring for anything but distracting her. But when the fire turned into a familiar purple cat, white hedgehog and orange raccoon, that suddenly didn't matter.

Blaze was knelled down, letting go a tired breath. (Ok, not sure where I am. Where should...) Then, she noticed the familiar duo of hedgehogs.

There was an akward silence as they exchanged looks.


	26. Clear Skies

"Great. Just great. They escaped!" Eclipse complained.

"Take it easy." Black Death tries to calm him down, but Eclipse flails his arm weakly.

"Don't give me that crap!" Eclipse answered back, only to feel the headache intensify. The alien had used his monster form for too long. "We risked turning our people against each other for him, to stop our enemies, but they escaped, again. And who knows if they are back on the Sol dimension or elsewhere." He forced the words out.

"... You know Mephiles, my partner has a point. Anything you want to say in your defense?" The flying alien spat. Both of them observed with spite how the hedgehog was rolling on the floor, violently.

Sweat abandoned his body, as he made everything in his power to contain the fire. The small ball of light continued to go on his body, as he tried to absorb it completely. The ball had finally reached his shoulder, which he hold with the free arm. No matter how hard Mephiles tried, he could not stand up or sit down, because he felt he would lose control. He could only roll and stop for moments.

That being said, he finally, managed to force the ball of light to his chest, where it mostly dissipated. When he finally thought it was done, a tiny fraction of that ball of light left his body, through the tip of his finger, like a ray of energy.

Black Death had to lift and take Eclipse, or else the laser would have hit the latter. There was a tiny fire on the floor, so both rational Black Arms returned their looks at the black anthro. "Hey, careful where you aim!" Both insulted him.

"Creeeeekkkk." The green blood of the aliens froze. They exchanged looks, wordlessly asking (What is behind us?), but neither daring to check out exactly what.

The next thing that happened, was an intense wave of heat pushing both of them, passing the breathless hedgehog.

Eclipse was knocked down, but Black Death observed the giant fire worm emerging right where the tiny fire started. Before he knew what happened, Mephiles jumped right into the middle, piercing through his fiery and rocky exterior.

"Creeeeeeekkkk." From what Black Death could see, the fire worn was in pain, shifting wildly. Soon, it was drained from the outside to the inside, the only thing remaining was the mouthless hedgehog.

It well again to the floor, heaving heavily. "That's done."

"Don't just say that. What the fuck was that worm?!" Black Death demanded.

"Iblis." Mephiles said. And BD's eyes just expanded more.

"That monster? You stole it completely?!"

Mephiles chuckled. "That, was only a fraction of the fraction I stole. That's how insanely powerful it is."

(A fraction.) Black Death found that terrifying. "What now then?"

"We continue our pursuit."

"Even across dimensions?"

"While they are tired and recomposing themselves."

"...Just one last thing... Do you have any idea on which dimension they fell?"

"... I have my suspicions. " Mephiles knew Black Death had a point, but he wasn't concerned.

He would put his money that they either returned to their original dimension, or fell on Sonic's one.

The uneasy alliance had managed to find the Sol dimension with relative ease, and Mephiles could tell there was some kind of connection between them. (The stars keep aligning themselves.)

* * *

(I knew something like this would happen.)

(Wrong. I didn't know what would be at the other side of the portal.)

(Seriously. You know the risks about the Sol Emeralds.)

(Silver and Marine know about it too.)

(Yeah, and look where that left them. At the brink of death.)

(Don't talk like they can fend for themselves. They have proved their worth time and time again.)

(Until one day when it won't be enough.)

(That day won't come.)

(Dispatch them. They will be better away from you.)

(You know that won't be good. I need close relationships for the Burning...)

(And how much good has that brought you?! You can't even use it without risks.)

"Would you shut up!?" The growing intensity of her inner discussion broke free, with the cat woman screaming in reality.

Both the pink and blue hedgehog looked at her, which brought a slight pink on her white cheeks. "I... I am sorry." Blaze offered.

Still, the shame rapidly mutated into concern. Silver and Marine were still out cold, laying on the cushioned furniture of the van. Amy right now treated Marine, burning some aromatic herbs. By now, the vehicle was filled with a soft, sweet scent.

"Here." Blaze opened her eyes a lot and pulled her head away. She did not notice when the blue hedgehog came in front of her, offering some tablets.

"For the swelling." Sonic added.

Blaze put a hand up to cover her left eye and took the medicine with the other. She didn't want to come up as shallow or that self-conscious, but she was also aware that the swelling on that area blocked most of her left eye, with a huge round ball of flesh.

The feline also knew that the brawl opened several cuts on the rest of her face. But that didn't matter, as she was still up, unlike her partners.

Sonic also came with bandages ready to patch her up. But when he was about to, Blaze instinctively threw her leg up, right against Sonic's face. It was not much of a kick, but just her attempt to push him away.

"Blaze, seriously." Sonic let go, some strain on his voice.

"Hand me the bandages. I will do that myself." She said.

The blue blur stepped away, which made her leg fall to the floor. "Then say that and don't kick me." The blue anthro nagged.

"Blaze." Amy's voice cut through their conversation. "Can you tell us what happened exactly?"

The next few minutes went away, as the princess narrated their last misadventure. At Amy's insistence, she described with great detail the setting and the creatures, but mid way on the explanation, both hedgehogs opened their eyes a lot with realization.

"What? What happened?! What do you know?!" Blaze demanded.

"Black Arms." Amy said.

"Black What?" Blaze asked, but the hedgehogs were ahead of the conversation.

"You already had an idea, right?" Sonic deduced, uncharacteristically serious.

"Marine has larvae paralysis." The pink girl said.

"Paralysis?!" Blaze repeated.

"... Fuck." Sonic let go.

"Fuck?! Paralysis?! Explain me!"

"Is she...?" Sonic started and Amy interrupted.

"She came in time. There is no danger of her lungs closing."

"But then..." Sonic stopped. His nose sniffed loudly, a strong smell coming. From what he could see, Amy did the same. "Is something...?" Both looked at Blaze, who hadn't burst into flames, though black smoke was coming from her body.

"Do I have your attention?" It was obvious that Blaze was angry, but she hid it well. Mostly anyway. "I don't know what are you talking about. What are the Black Arms? What larvaes? How can you be sure she is fine?!"

"...Right. You weren't there." Sonic remembered.

The next few minutes went by as the hedgehogs informed the princess about the terror that the alien caused so many years ago. About how entire cities where destroyed by the invaders, about how Shadow joined them for a while and how that tipped their balance on their favor.

About that time when they found themselves surrounded by larvaes and became unable to move, to resist. Everyone, but Shadow, immune to the larvaes effect, who managed to save them all.

"As far as we knew, they were gone for good." Amy ended. At some point, Sonic had gone to the other side of the vehicle, turning a laptop on. He had a hunch, and he felt the need to confirm it.

"But they aren't." Blaze added.

"And they are aiming to snatch your toes!" A raspy voice said. It tried to sound creepy and evil and dark, but it came out more playful than anything.

Both Blaze and Amy ran to her side, while screaming her name. "That is me." Marine said, offering a big smile.

"How do you feel? Does something ache?" Blaze demanded.

"No... But why can't I feel anything? Or move anything?" She said. Then, she gasped. "Am I only a head?!" She panicked.

Blaze slapped Marine in the head, not even a second after the words left her mouth. "Don't joke like that!" Concern filled her voice.

"Auchies. Ok, but no more slapping." Marine whined.

"Look, you were recently paralyzed by the monster." Amy started.

"The squashy disgusting things?" Marine said, the memory of her attackers flashing on her mind.

"Yeah. But you tasted the antidote, so it will be gone soon enough. Changing topics, what was that of the toes?" Amy wondered.

"Like, is the thing that aliens do. In every story." Marine said. That clarified nothing for Amy.

"It is a cliche. Most of the cheesy horror movies she sees have a line like that." Blaze explained, sounding somewhat bored. The fiery princess had heard of that story more times than she wished for.

"Oh, like 'Take us to your leader.'" Amy snapped her fingers, also making her voice sound raspy, like mimicking a monster.

"Now that is dumb." Marine deadpanned.

"Not as dumb as taking your toes. Seriously, why an alien species need that?"

"To power their world ending cannon." Marine said, sounding offended by Amy's inquiry, and adding a "Duh" at the end.

Before Blaze knew it, they were having a rather heated conversation about alien nonsense, of all things. Well, oneside-ly heated, as Amy was relatively calm in comparison to Marine's rising tone. There were these smirks, like she was enjoying psyching the raccoon out.

But that eased Blaze's nerves. (If she is still this whimsical, then things are fine.) She chuckled.

"Hey, Amy. I will get a new phone to replace the damaged one." Sonic stood up. Amy knew there was something wrong, but refused to voice it.

"Sure. Come back soon." He had barely waited for her to finish, running fast and generating a gust of wind that hit the group.

"He is impatient." Marine pointed out.

"You don't have a phone?" Blaze asked.

"Yeah. Long story, not that interesting." She downplayed the importance and went to the laptop.

She knew something bothered his partner, so she was trying to measure her reaction. It didn't work, as a gasp escaped her mouth.

"Amy?" Blaze asked, but Amy's priorities where elsewhere.

Black Arms discovered on Station Square. A complete Blackout last night represents the new coming of an alien invasion? Tails the fox allied with the Black Arms? A cliff on Mystic Ruins crumbled. A ship soaring on the Black Arms sky crumbles mid-flight.

Several news reports were on the screen, all narrating about how the Black Arms had returned, and some even suggested that the fox was in cahoots with them. But, what truly concerned Amy was the fact that Tails was missing.

 _Elsewhere_

Sonic had 4 phones on his hands, putting them against his hears. He knew he looked dumb, but his younger brother was first.

He knew he had more than one phone for security services and more than one hideout. He started with the one on Mystic Ruins, but there was no reply. He kept calling all the numbers he recalled, but there was no one answering.

The blue blur wanted more, but there was one last phone that he hoped would get results.

"This is a private..."

"6698foolfull0012." Sonic spat as fast as he could. Then, he coughed. He didn't want to say that at that speed.

"In a moment."

"Sonic, this better be quick." Shade started with her condescending tone.

"Is Tails with you?" Sonic asked, the anger sipping through his voice.

"Yeah. Came around six days ago. Really messed up too."

"Oh, thank God." Sonic sighed, relieved. "Is he better?"

"Yeah, but look, stop coming and calling to the island. My people are getting restless." She said. "Well, more than ever." She clarified.

The hedgehog stopped a groan that was forming on his throat and replied. "Hey, if a Ix wannabe appears, we will beat them, no worries."

"Try fifty." Shade replied. Sonic didn't like the sound of that. "Look, this was on me, but I recently brought Rouge, who brought X."

"Yeah, not a good idea." Sonic understood immediately.

"Next, was Tails, who asked us to save him from the Black Arms. And believe me: Those aliens are dangerous."

"Whatever. We beat them once, we can beat them again."

"Sonic, the ships surrounded us in the blink of an eye. Whatever they did, from what I saw, their threat level must be around Infinite's." Sonic was not ready for that. "That is the reason why the echidnas are freaking out and I don't blame them."

"Oh, come on. That war was brutal on everyone."

"I know, but killing years of habits on the hard-headed echidnas is not possible."

The blue blur groan finally escaped. Of course he knew what she was talking about. Even if each echidna were half as thick headed as Knuckles or Shade, it would still be hard. And experience said they were, usually, more, as Knuckles' time with them had softened him a bit and Shade, while thickheaded on many areas, was also willing to listen in many others. "Look, we will leave you alone, but if these guys make an advancement, we will need you."

"Duly noted. Oh, something else: The Babylon Rogues were captured by them and genetically altered."

"...This keeps getting better and better." He said, sarcastically.

"It does. Apparently, the main attacker was Wave the Swallow."

"What?!" For the first time in the conversation, Sonic was not able to moderate his reaction. "When? How?"

"Tails found her and kept her on check. She was basically his prisoner. Apparently, the Black Arms could see and hear through her, so she had to be limited. But she was also modified to become a Monster and attack him."

(God dammit Tails, why didn't you say anything?) He thought.

"We cleanse her already, but chances are her partners are also on the same boat."

"Got it."

"One last thing: She had a strange effect on Shadow."

"Strange how?"

"Simply put, Shadow could have dusted away if she was close to him for too long."

"What the fuck?!"

"I know, but I am short of time. Look, I will get as much info as possible from the woman and the fox. They should know more. The swallow should be able to talk today."

"Wait, just the swallow?! You said he was better!"

"And he is. Much better."

"How badly were they injured?!" Sonic's voice was barely a whisper.

"...The swallow is one arm down and Tails will remain flightless. He also lost a good part of his ear." For the first time on the conversation, Shade wasn't emotionless. There was genuine regret and sadness on her voice, only making the thing harder to accept.

Sonic's silence afterwards felt eternal, yet it was only a few seconds "...Understood." Sonic replied.

"Time is up. That will be all."

"Shade." Sonic got her attention, stopping her just a second longer. "Thanks. For everything."

"...I will see you soon." She replied and put down the phone.

* * *

"So that is what happened." Silver had finally managed to wake up, just in time too, as Sonic came and put them up to speed.

"Yeah." Sonic said. "According to Shade, Shadow would turn to dust from exposure. Are you sure you are fine?"

"Yeah." Silver said. At that second, he felt the stern look from Blaze fall on him. "I-I am not sure if I was dusting away. B-but instead, my powers just acted wonky and aga-ga-gainst my will." Silver stammered, trying to ease the intense princess.

"He wasn't the only one. I couldn't use my water powers." Marine added.

"But it wasn't instantly. I had my powers for a while." Blaze said.

"They probably have a way to block it. I mean, Mephiles was there, another hedgehog, born from Shadow, so I imagine it affects him too." Silver said. And when he did, everyone looked confused.

"Another hedgehog?" Sonic asked.

"Mephiles?" Amy said.

"Born from Shadow?" Blaze said.

"...Affect him too." Marine added, latter than everyone else, not because she needed confirmation. She did because she didn't want to feel left out.

(Right. Time travelling is a bitch.) Silver remembered that no one but him should remember the monster hedgehog, thanks to the time line adjusting itself.

"He is my enemy, from the future, and he is terrible news." Silver explained.

"He did something to me: He grabbed my head and felt like he drained a bit of my energy. A drop, but it was stolen." Blaze said.

"What?!" Silver let go.

"And you didn't do anything to take it back?" Marine said.

"My priority was finding you guys. And it seemed that fire was killing him." Blaze explained.

(Mephiles has a bit of Iblis!? How?! He needed the Chaos Emeralds last time to fuse with Iblis. Well, to fully fuse with him. Can he really do that?) He thought. Still, he couldn't let them know yet. "Right, we needed some saving. Thanks Blaze." The white hedgehog said, with a hand behind his head.

"...Do you know why or how he stole that bit of my power?"

"...I mean, why wouldn't anyone?" Silver offered, tilting his head.

"...Fair enough. What now then?" Blaze asked.

"What?" Silver said, confused.

"He is your enemy. What would be his next move?"

"I am not sure."

"Think, Silver, come on."

"Blaze." Amy intervened. "I think you all need some rest."

"Amy, this is not the time to rest."

"You are wounded, Marine still can't move her body like usual and Silver is also badly hurt. It is better if you guys rest, at least for today."

"But..."

"Come on, if the bad guy attacks you when you are so tired, it will be harder than it needs to be."

Blaze didn't want to back down, but what other option did they have? "Fine."

"Great. The girls will sleep up while Silver stays down here." She said.

A few minutes later, Blaze had carried Marine to the upper room, while Amy and Sonic aimed to leave the van. However, before Sonic left the vehicle, Silver mentally pulled one of Sonic's quills, earning his attention. "Contact Shadow. I need to talk with you two."

* * *

Author note: Short breather until next chapter.


	27. Outmatched

"Understood, I will see you soon." Shadow said from the other side of the line.

"Before you go, can you think of a reason why Silver wants to speak privately?" Sonic asked.

"Not really. Only that he knows more about this than any of us." Shadow replied.

"Got it." Sonic asked and hanged the phone.

At that moment, the blue blur carried a metal briefcase, surrounded by a large amount of people, all with their respective extreme gears.

The hedgehog duo were used to only feed themselves, so they needed a bit more money to get food for their guests. It wasn't really a bother, as this was always an option. Extreme gear racing. To be specific, illegal competitions. They were easy money and accesible.

Neither Sonic nor Amy were too fond of the idea, specially Amy, but this was an extraordinary time.

"Competidors! Take your places!" The voice announced and the green bar behind them lit up and started to move forward.

The blue blur remembered when he used to walk back a few steps and then ran at full speed. The races were predictable, as the bar always moved at the same speed, the starting area was always polished metal, no matter if the rest of the enviroment was a forest, water or anything else.

~Experimenting is better.~ He thought, smiling. Today, he chose to get much closer to the starting line, just a couple inches away from it. This way, he wouldn't earn too much initial speed, but that didn't matter much to him. Aside from that, he was also the one at the front. No other racer was in front of him.

The hedgehog then turned his head around, watching all the competition, all the eyes of the other 11 competidors locked on him. The blue anthro waved at them. None of them returned it.

Finally, the bar passed in front of him. At this easy conditions, he passed right through the start line, his rollerblades full of air energy, but not much speed. And, as he predicted, the rest of the competidors surrounded him.

A mouse on rollerblades pulled out an electric taser and shot its top to the hedgehog from behind. Just at the right timing, Sonic caught the wire with his hands, the dangerous tip hanging out of reach. "Close." He mocked, as he moved that same hand to another competidor, a lynx, this one holding a sword. The blue anthro dodged the blade and connected the tip to the iron tool and the electric charge hurt him.

Next, a bear pulled from his motorcycle a chain with a spike ball, launching the tool to his head. Sonic dodged that, but next came a porcopine, with a spear, trying to impale him.

He did his best to avoid the attacks from both sides, but what he didn't know, was that it was all a setup: in front of them, a scooter riding racoon turned around, still travelling forward and, from the front of the vehicle, a minigun revealed.

Without any consideration, the machine gun roared. Sonic barely had time to curl into a ball and do a spin dash. His partners weren't so lucky, as the bullets pierced through their gears, leaving them useless.

Had he used any other type of extreme gear, it was likely it would be unservable from such attack and, if it weren't for his strong quills and the spin dash, he would be heavily harmed and then, receive an even harder attack from the remaining competidors. But even against his hard quills, the shots still stung like paint ball shots.

His spin dash cut the distance between them and let him toss the raccoon from the scooter.

"Screw it." One final robot voice said, as the familiar sound of missiles closed on him. Sonic didn't have the time to land, but it wasn't necessary, as he, barely, managed to land with his hand, on one of the projectiles.

The missiles were a tiny bit bigger than his hand, and for the first few moments, he lurched to all directions, before getting his balance right. The missile gave him the opportunity to earn the speed he couldn't from the start of the race. "Thanks for the lift." Sonic said, making a V sign with two fingers.

The robot was not pleased from this. Now, the hedgehog gained a good advantage from every competidor, permitting Amy to release a sigh of relief. ~Idiot.~ She thought.

There was a time when she thought his exhibitionism was the coolest thing ever, but now? After thinking he was dead for so long, and after watching people die left and right at the hands of the jackal? Not so much anymore. It was an ironic thought: Amy would have liked if he toned down his risk taking nature, but would he still be Sonic if he did? She sighed, knowing that there was no win-win situation.

The reason why Sonic was attacked like that were varied: He was an skilled racer, a hero, the brother of the Tails the murderous fox, he had killed Eggman, etc. All of this stuff added to the bounty on his head. Amy had to enter much later than him, to minimize the danger of people using her to get to him. She even disguised herself to help this.

She wore sun glasses, khaki jeans and a black jacked with white shirt. She had also messes her quills a bit, thinking that it would give her a rougher look.

The race track was a giant, abandoned mining structure, a giant spiral crater with a shallow cave system, making it easy to get lost, but also to return to the correct path. The descend continued until, right at the center of the hole, stood a giant cannon. From this, the racers got shot back near the beginning of the race track. Unorthodox, but not uncommon on extreme gear racing. Amy, in particular, remembered the giant bajista from the first competition with anger.

Meanwhile, the makeshift, transportable stands were placed around the starting line, at the highest area of the cannon. Several robots came and left to place this and the cannon in place and, once the race was done, they would dismantle them and leave, as if nothing ever happened.

So far, the blue blur had outmaneuvered all the opposition, managing to retain the lead with relative ease. "Come on! Is that hedgehog really that unstopable?" One of the nearby watchers complained.

"He must be cheating. Someone should put him on his place." Another one commented.

~Really? You are complaining of him being a cheater? On illegal racing? How much of a sore loser can someone be?~ Amy thought.

The sooner he won the money, the sooner they went away back home and help their guests.

The two first laps went unremarkably, but it all changed for the third lap. Sonic came close to the cannon, about to enter the lower orifice. A good 4 seconds later, the next three competidors came in.

Sonic entered on the bullet system and waited for the moment the cannon was supposed to shoot him. Except, the moment never came.

"Hey, quit stalling." One of his opponents complained.

"Are you suddenly afraid?" Another said.

"Seriously. If I had something to do with this, why would I let you catch up to me?" Sonic said.

"... Because you are a cheater and a sore loser." One of them added, thought his tone was hollow and insecure.

Sonic just narrowed his eyes, looking tired. "There is probably just a malfunction or something." Sonic looked away, trying to find a solution.

He touched around the mechanism, trying to see a way out or maybe even activate it. He was no genius, but could give his airplane some minor repairs. This cannon looked old, so it couldn't be too complex.

Sonic pulled a metal tile... and his heart almost jumped out of his body: A Black Arms larvae was inside.

A second after that, the sound of blows against metal started. In an instant, several larvae jumped toward him and the players. Sonic couldn't understand how, but the aliens increased its numbers at ridiculous rates, filling all the free space and restringing everyone's movements.

And the effects from the worms poisoning didn't make themselves wait. Sonic already felt numb and weak.

"H-help." One of the competidors tried to yelp, but it came weak. The robot competidor flailed its arms wildly, in vain. Even if it was a machine, the strength and weight of the numerous aliens overwhelmed it.

There was only an option for that. Sonic curled into a ball and spread his spikes. This shook the aliens away, but more were replacing them fast. He had to act quick.

At the best of his capacity, the blue blur swam through the alien swarm. Almost out of strength, the hedgehog punched the robot, barely able to get past the steel exterior.

Meanwhile, the crowd grew restless, thinking that the time the competidors spent on the cannon was too long.

All that was put to the rest when a giant explosion engulfed the entire cannon, the energy wave shaking the entire stadium. Most of the watchers, including Amy, fell.

"Sonic!" She screamed when she jumped back up.

She was ready to jump from the stands, when the sound of a blaster came. One too familiar.

Before she knew it, a rain of purple pulse bullets came. There were several grunts of pain, accompanied by blood. Body after body fell, as the blood splashed the area.

The aliens walked around the bodies, shooting at the floored spectators. Some of them resisted and tried to fight back, taking down a few of the Black Arms, but eventually, the numbers overwhelmed them.

It was around this time that a wounded Sonic emerged from the fire. He went and tried to help the fallen competidors, but a small glance at them left it clear that they were gone.

And looking a little further only made things worse. "Dammit, this shit again." He thought, turning his rollerblades from race mode to freestyle.

The hedgehog priority was finding Amy. He had seen her on the stairs, so he ran a direct line, with enough speed that he got sent up into the sky. In mid-air, he used his homing attack and crashed against his opponents.

Several of the aliens fell under the strength of his blows. Sonic had just bounced from one last alien, when he crashed to the floor in the blink of an eye. The hedgehog didn't understand what happened: He was not pushed or received a blow. If he didn't know any better, he would swear that the earth was the one that got closer to him.

He pushed his body up with his arms, and watched his surroundings. Everything was grey and red blurs moving too fast for him to process. This time, he was sent flying, feeling pain on the right side of his face, but one that he couldn't see coming.

He tried to stand up, but this time, hundreds of kicks to his head crashed him, sinking him further into the grouns, again and again. He curled up into a ball, trying to resist, but a blade passed right through his stomach.

~Not possible~ Was all he could think before the bodies were sent flying. Popping into existance came Amy at his side. That sent alarms to his mind: Amy had used her invisibility powers from what he could tell, but she shouldn't become visible that quickly. It is supposed to be slow and progressive.

Amy then knelled to his partner. "Sonic, are you alright?!" She voiced her panic, her eyes darting between the blue anthro and the mutated green, grey and red bird.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa." Amy caught the weird mumbling coming from him. It sounded deep and slow. Like a recording played at a slower speed.

" _Wonky and against my will."_ Those were the words that Silver used to describe the effect the birds had on him. Was this the same? Was Sonic acting so weird because of Jet?

She didn't have the time to ask, as three Black Bulls came from the sky and nose dived, trying to kill them. Amy grabbed Sonic and dragged him away, but the first bull crashed through the stands, sending the duo flying to the starting line.

On mid fall, Amy pulled out her extreme gear, a board type and carried Sonic on her arms. She looked around, trying to find a hole on their formation, but thousands of soldier surrounding her, and the space ships in the sky left no room to.

From what she could see, her only option was going deep into the mines. Amy gulped, but headed straight to the mines, followed by the aliens.

 _Elsewhere_

Marine had her eyes closed, the ache ever present. She knew it would be easy for her to fall asleep. It should be easy. But there was a consistant rustling coming from nearby that interrupted her sleep.

"Blaze, for the love of Sol, stay still." The girl let go a sleepy groan.

"...Sorry Marine." The fire princess answered. She closed her eyes again and tried to keep her mind clear. Except, it wandered away yet again.

~There are still several kidnappers on the loose. Fancy still messing around. He is working with Captain Whiskers and Johnny. How did that monster extract a bit of my power? Aliens could attack home any time. Silver and Marine were heavily injured.~ Each thought made her shake on her bed, making it impossible to sleep. For herself or for her partner.

The raccoon stood up and went to the lower floor. ~Maybe some water can help me.~

She reached the lower floor and took some. But, she was startled when Silver let go a groan of pain. "Silver, could you not..."

"It is them again." The white anthro said.

Marine was not able to reply when the entire vehicle was pushed, the trio of anthros bouncing inside against the walls.

Outside, the Black Arms, accompanied by Storm the albatross, assaulted several vehicles. The hit, however, didn't come from the Albatross. One of the vehicles was slammed by the giant bird and had crashed against the hedgehogs' van.

Blaze sped off, reaching outside and watching the terrible sight. Both Marine and Silver came out later, awkwardly and gawked at the sight. "For Sol..." The raccoon sighed, watching the aliens just flail around wildly, just like back on the dark place. "Round two, monsters!" Marine said, trying to generate a water blade, but it never formed. "Oh, right."

"...What direction did Sonic and Amy go?" Blaze asked, knowing that they were running out of time.

Marine looked at Silver, then at the sky. "That place looks promising." She pointed at the flying rocks in the sky. Blaze just nodded. Then, she pulled out her rapier.

"Take it. Also carry Silver on your shoulders. Don't let them go, by any mean." Blaze ordered. Marine only complied and, took the rapier. Once Silver was on her back, Blaze did the same with Marine, carrying them. "Cover me."

"Do you think this is a good idea? Taking all of us into the mouth of the lion?" Marine asked.

"They are acting weird, just like in that place. It is dangerous, but if they actually fight in a coordinated effort, then we don't stand a chance." And with that said, Blaze sped off to the mine. For the most part, her journey was straight, with some minor attacks coming nearby them.

 _Back with the hedgehogs_

Amy hear the movements of the aliens around the mines. She and Sonic hid behind some of the rocks formations. From time to time, she would peak, observing the numerous aliens keep walking deeper and deeper.

Then, she observed at her partner. Sonic had moaned a few sounds, which concerned the pink girl. She tried shaking him. Once she stopped, she noticed how Sonic's head moved back and forth by itself, but at extremely slow speeds.

-Ring- ~Fuck.~ Amy let go. Her phone started, which probably alerted some, if not all the aliens. She answered.

"Amy, where are you? Aliens are attacking on the park and we decided to head your way." Blaze asked.

"I am fine." The woman said, lowly. She glanced over the rocks and, as she expected, the enemies were going toward them. "I am inside a cave on the cannon. The aliens are surrounding me." -Phew- A random shot came, grazing her hair and hitting behind them, followed by many more, but all of them were erratic and aimless. "They suddenly went crazy!" The scream escaped her mouth, panic setting in.

"That is on us. Get out, we are going to escape all together." Blaze said.

"Are you sure?"

"Do it. But be careful with the aimless shots." Blaze said.

Amy rode her board again and took Sonic. Getting back to the main area was no problem and, as they had said, Blaze's group waited for her there, thought they kept moving to dodge any coming attacks.

"Perfect, now we..." The sentence was never finished, as a random bolt hit right on Amy's board, sending her flying. "Amy!" Blaze screamed, trying to reach her, but another shot came, not aimed at her, but at her companions.

Marine managed to block the shot with the rapier, but the strength pushed her to the floor, tossing Silver. Next, came an explosive landed right in between them.

Blaze managed to react in time, picking it and tossing it upwards. The light from the explosion blinded them for a second. But when it dissipated, they noticed how the aliens surrounded them, forming a large circle around them. The most alarming was the fact that the aliens were calm and coordinated. They were not the chaotic beast on the other dimension.

"What is going on?" Blaze barely whispered.

 _Elsewhere_

"You were right." Black Death pointed out, surprised. Mephiles orderes him to send the aliens again after them. The first, naturally, said that it was a bad idea, as the grunts would lose control. But the hedgehog reassured that wouldn't happen and now, he still had full control over his soldiers. "How did you know that I wouldn't have any problem?" He asked, observing the yellow giant orb.

"I theorized that Silver's power only messed with yours if he was nearby, as we had no problems when we attacked on the Sol dimension. Then if Silver is not around the source of the physich power, then his powers are useless." Mephiles replied.

"Did you really rationalized that far ahead?" Black Death asked, unconvinced.

"Fuck no." Mephiles said. "I just thought 'even if one manages to shot one of our enemies, then it would have being a victory for us'. Even if the rest of you dies." He said smugly.

Black Death tensed, silent. He tried to not let Mephiles surprise or intimadate him, but it wasn't going well. His eyes then went to the other sentient alien. From a while ago, Eclipse remained silent, only glaring at both of them. The alien 'leader' knew that it was only a matter of time before things blew up.

"Still upset about the little failsafe?" Mephiles said. "In a matter of minutes, this society will have served its purpose and we all can forget about it."

He glanced again at the portal, observing how the group of anthros barely stood to the attacks from the army.

It was only a matter of time. The group was finally cornered, with nowhere to run. It was then that Blaze walked forward, closed her eyes and lifted both arms around the shoulder level.

A ray of light came from her, seven colorful prisms appearing on thin air, floating around the cat, something that every spectator recognized all too well. "Don't tell me..." Mephiles muttered.

"All fire power on the cat!" Black Death screeched but it was too late, as a fire engulfed Blaze and then expanded forward, a wall of fire blasted at least half of the alien opposition, from footsoldiers to the alien ships.

"Dammit." Mephiles cursed.

"Do not let her..." Black Death ordered, but, when the flames dissipated, none of the anthros were there anymore. "What the hell?!"

"Wow. We thought we had them until we didn't. How surprising." Eclipse complained.

"Nobody asked for your opinion." Mephiles said. "We must regroup. Bring them back here."

~Boom.~ Not a second had happened when an explosion came from their observation points. They lookes again and watched Blaze destroy three alien space ships in rapid succession.

Mephiles started to panic, but intensifies his concentration, all while he wondered what was that power surge.

 _Meanwhile_

"Damn! Blaze is not playing around." Knuckles said.

"Do something about it!" Wave said.

"Are you kidding me?! She is wrecking them like they are meaningless. One less problem."

"While they kill my brothers." Wave snapped.

"Heh. We have lost better people." Knuckles shrugged.

Wave gawked at the answer. "Well, I am not going to just sit there and watch." She said, decisively. "Just let me out of this place and I will do my thing."

"Just to clarify, what can you do against that?" Knuckles asked again, as another alien rock crumbled into the ground.

Wave's confidence diminished, but her mind was made. "They are my brothers." Was all she said.

"...All right." Was all Shade said, before moving closer to her.

"Shade?" Knuckles let go.

"And now what?" Wave complained. Before she could react, Shade put a band on her waist. "What the?" She let go, when a blinding light confused her senses.

After a short while her sight returned, now inside a metal crammed space, with her body extended, belly down.

Her hands went to the belt and she struggled against it. Alas, it wouldn't come off. "I am getting sick of people putting shit on me."

At that instant, a holographic screen appeared, with the orange echidna on it. "You will like that one. It is a short range teleporter. Will get you out of a bind more times than you can count."

Wave heard her and started tinkering with the belt, trying to get it to work. "It will activate in a couple of minutes, when the extreme gear takes you there."

"Of course." Wave replied, rolling her eyes.

"The extreme gear is locked where the aliens are." Shade added, as two levers came from the metal below, in front of her. She grapsed them. "Flight type is of your preference, isn't it?"

"Why are you doing this?" Wave asked. "Why help me? And why should I believe or trust you?"

"...Those two, the ones possesed by the aliens, they are the last of your people, aren't they?" Shade said. Wave opened her eyes a lot, serving as an answer for the echidna leader. "I cannot give direct support, so hope this is enough."

"...Thank you."

"Thank me by surviving."

The swallow nodded in affirmation, before readying herself for take off. She started the engine, hearing it roar, a smile curling on her beak. Three seconds later and the extreme gear shot out at max speed, reaching mach 6 in a second.

To protect from that, the extreme gear had an special cover, looking like a giant size bullet. Soon enough, the extreme gear lost speed, and as it reached manageable speeds, it shed off the extra cover.

Soon enough, only the familiar arrow shape extreme gear remained. Not too far away, the spiral formation was visible.

~Hang on guys.~ Wave thought. A second later, a giant fire erupted from the canyon, as wide as its full diameter, and as high as skyscrapers.

Wave stopped, feeling the slap of the heat, despite the considerable distance. The fire died down, but the swallow confidence was close to the nothing. ~Shit just keep getting better and better!~

* * *

Last set up episode!

I hope.


End file.
